Embedded Files
Even Supposing
an erasure of the chapters from Charles Dickens's Bleak House narrated by Esther Summerson: from chapter 3, 'A Progress'Even Supposing
a.
a.
My portion I always knew
indeed alone
such a shy
rather a noticing way seems to brighten
trifling I I ought to better
cast me upon ease
took the light away
birthday melancholy
quickened when my affection is
vehemence trembling
disgrace you will understand
pray daily forget forget
b.
b.
set apart crept
properly I felt the distance fervently
come home long shadow
c.
c.
almost fourteen I was reading as I always did
stopped by my godmother’s
is dead
Don’t weep! Don’t tremble!
wondering
every contingency, every masterly
nothing
only to know
upon the whole
d.
d.
beat time to his own music or rounded a sentence
desolate—position
offers education comfort
eminently
faithfully
less able to speak say?
parting kiss a thaw-drop from the stone porch
and thus I left
e.
e.
The coach
frosty trees pieces of spar
sun, so red yet yielding so little
a gentleman took no notice
crying I faltered
want to go there?
very glad to
pleasant muttering
We left him at a milestone.
f.
f.
As if this narrative were the narrative of MY life!
little body soon fall
rapture
proofs of love
could I
take tears
conveyance conveyance
a London particular
g.
g.
A fog
Oh, indeed!
slowly the dirtiest ever
distracting
until sudden quietude a silent square
an odd nook
after the journey stirred the fire
strange stranger night in the day-time
candles burning with a white flame
raw and cold
I read the words in the newspaper without knowing what they meant
thinking, thinking, thinking
the fire burning, burning, burning
the candles flickering and guttering — for two hours
round a corner, under a colonnade into a comfortable sort
a young lady and a young gentleman
h.
h.
saw in the young shining
Ada
welcome and her hand
in a few minutes the window-seat
the light of the fire upon us free
Richard an ingenuous face
a bustle and a tread
his lordship trimmed with beautiful gold lace
turned over the leaves Miss Ada Clare?
a suitable companion Miss Summerson
gave me an indulgent look
the candour of a boy
dismissed
in the fog
Carrie Etter has published two collections of poetry, The Tethers (Seren, 2009) and Divining for Starters (Shearsman, 2011), and edited Infinite Difference: Other Poetries by UK Women Poets. She teaches as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.
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