A--o-ithmc -

And then c , final as a closing parenthesis, or the soft click of a hard drive parking its head.

The first vowel is a , open and surrendered. The second vowel is o , round as a swallowed key. Between them, two dashes — not gaps, but the negative space where consonants used to breathe. a--o-ithmc

So here is the piece’s final instruction: Fill the dashes with what you fear you cannot spell. The ithmc will remember the rest. And then c , final as a closing