Everything stops

Mid-syllable

Cursor blinking

Half a thought hanging in the dark

The Archivist freezes

Eyes on a drifting page

Dust suspended

Between one breath and the next

Outside

The earth shifts its shoulder

[low vocal register] slow tectonic shrug

Old bones waking under steel

Rock impacting the hull

Then nothing

Rock impacting the hull

Then nothing

Sub-bass in my ribs

Then nothing

Then nothing

Then—

Warning lights forget to blink

Gravity

Remembers other promises

Shelves of memory

Lean

Like tired trees

Waiting for the wind that never comes

Did we back this up?

Did we back ourselves?

One

Deep

Hit

Coffee ripples in the cup

Another

Lower

Slower

Spine strings hum in sympathy

No hum

No hiss

Just the shape

Of what was about to be said