AM Kanngieser

I
it was a room that dwarfed its inhabitants
its walls a smear on the horizon, its ceiling extending to the stratosphere feet on a floor stretching beyond the edges of where the eye could see clouds piling up in a corner, damp and mute
thirteen people sat in a circle
bent heads some small smiles some nervous hands some discussion to be had
activity to be planned and plotted and engaged
imagined equilibriums
more or less
voices thrown into the cavernous space
conquering with assertive vowels and forceful consonants electrified waves of opinions
waves so well formed and interlocking
each voice shrinking the room bringing the concrete into relief
bringing worn carpet into relief bringing dusty windows into relief
bringing the rain outside into relief and the sharp smells of age and mould each voice illuminating a bright face
buffered by the vibration of the self making plans, being useful, participating until you
silence gaps pauses endings
until you
you said nothing
you said nothing
not a thing not even a stutter you said nothing
and the room it exploded
into vertiginous space
the cold of stratospheric ice freezing the clouds in the corner the floor a sinkhole
you made the unknowable again.