erasurethon!
Title: Fantasies
Original Text(s) Erased: Fantasies
Erased by: metonomia
Original text by: wingedflight21
Fandom (of original text): Narnia
Fandom (of erasure): N/A
Note: I was super excited to get Winged as my assignment, because not only is she a prolific writer, but she is prolific with beautiful words and original ideas. There was no question for me of working with anything but "Fantasies," which is probably my favorite ever of her stories; I love the concept of Narnia being, truly, nothing more than a series of games the Pevensies played as children, and in doing this erasure what I found coming out of it for me was this terrific sense that it doesn't matter if it's just a story (as, of course, it is for all of us) - the feelings and experiences turn out to be the same either way, and I loved seeking out Susan's journey and experience and it turning out to contain just as much turmoil and beauty and SUSAAAAAAN-ness as it does when we are taking Narnia as a lived experience rather than a made-up story.
Apologies both to Winged and to Z for this being so late!
Fantasies
the spare room when we stayed was empty,
was too beautiful
but always managed to drift towards
the unknown.
Lucy claimed
our country.
the sea breeze
fit for a queen,
the names we
had given ourselves.
the magic we had spun.
Then our world
began to adjust, refusing
to speak
the strange word
in disbelief.
Susan bites her lip uncertainly.
Susan wonders if she should take back her words -
Susan has done nothing.
at the train station
In our last hour
feel the magic pulling us.
our return
was grim was shining,
and it was time to say goodbye.
a shock inside
her. all dead only a day ago, and
her vision swims stumbles collapses.
afraid
of the fate rushing to meet her.
Susan, it read,
if you would believe
I promise we’ll fit you in.
If only.
The funeral words hold true meaning.
Susan breathes in
Susan is too numb too painful
But Susan wants this done.
just beginning to truly grow up.
too old for fairy tales
in the dim light of the moon.
a strange sort of jealousy
Now the secret had spilt.
the sacred
pushed to the back of
reality.
the winter air the
salty sea breeze the thick lion’s fur.
a word rare on her tongue,
the feeling of release,
words and pictures and memories
forgotten for the moment.
and her words and her heart
fall away.
More notes!
I wish I could attach an image of the actual physical erasure, but it's huge and a lot of black ink, so I think I won't. I went at it on the computer first, then printed it out and did my final version in huge blackout with a giant sharpie (so many fumes!). The verse here then, is arranged according to line as it looks on the physical version, with I think just one exception where I put two bits on the same line for readability. Similarly, all of the punctuation but for two commas is found in the original, and capitalization and italicization remains unchanged.
Original Text(s) Erased: Fantasies
Erased by: metonomia
Original text by: wingedflight21
Fandom (of original text): Narnia
Fandom (of erasure): N/A
Note: I was super excited to get Winged as my assignment, because not only is she a prolific writer, but she is prolific with beautiful words and original ideas. There was no question for me of working with anything but "Fantasies," which is probably my favorite ever of her stories; I love the concept of Narnia being, truly, nothing more than a series of games the Pevensies played as children, and in doing this erasure what I found coming out of it for me was this terrific sense that it doesn't matter if it's just a story (as, of course, it is for all of us) - the feelings and experiences turn out to be the same either way, and I loved seeking out Susan's journey and experience and it turning out to contain just as much turmoil and beauty and SUSAAAAAAN-ness as it does when we are taking Narnia as a lived experience rather than a made-up story.
Apologies both to Winged and to Z for this being so late!
Fantasies
the spare room when we stayed was empty,
was too beautiful
but always managed to drift towards
the unknown.
Lucy claimed
our country.
the sea breeze
fit for a queen,
the names we
had given ourselves.
the magic we had spun.
Then our world
began to adjust, refusing
to speak
the strange word
in disbelief.
Susan bites her lip uncertainly.
Susan wonders if she should take back her words -
Susan has done nothing.
at the train station
In our last hour
feel the magic pulling us.
our return
was grim was shining,
and it was time to say goodbye.
a shock inside
her. all dead only a day ago, and
her vision swims stumbles collapses.
afraid
of the fate rushing to meet her.
Susan, it read,
if you would believe
I promise we’ll fit you in.
If only.
The funeral words hold true meaning.
Susan breathes in
Susan is too numb too painful
But Susan wants this done.
just beginning to truly grow up.
too old for fairy tales
in the dim light of the moon.
a strange sort of jealousy
Now the secret had spilt.
the sacred
pushed to the back of
reality.
the winter air the
salty sea breeze the thick lion’s fur.
a word rare on her tongue,
the feeling of release,
words and pictures and memories
forgotten for the moment.
and her words and her heart
fall away.
More notes!
I wish I could attach an image of the actual physical erasure, but it's huge and a lot of black ink, so I think I won't. I went at it on the computer first, then printed it out and did my final version in huge blackout with a giant sharpie (so many fumes!). The verse here then, is arranged according to line as it looks on the physical version, with I think just one exception where I put two bits on the same line for readability. Similarly, all of the punctuation but for two commas is found in the original, and capitalization and italicization remains unchanged.