Nettie Farris

Nettie Farris is the author of COMMUNION (Accents Publishing, 2013), FAT CRAYONS (Finishing Line Press, 2015), the micro-chapbook STORY (Origami Poems Project, 2016), and THE WENDY BIRD POEMS (dancing girl press, 2016). She has received the Kudzu Poetry Prize and a Distinguished Teaching Award from the College of Arts and Sciences University of Louisville. She writes Book Reviews for MELANCHOLY HYPERBOLE, Reference Essays for Salem Press/Greyhouse Publishing, and the Spotlight on a Press feature for BLUE LYRA REVIEW, where she serves as Review Editor.

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► Nettie's microchaps & poems are available below. Download the single-page PDF by clicking the title.

Origami Microchap	Poems
T H R I V E
Click title to download microchap Cover photo: Strings of Nickels by author •	Gaslit Rest assured. This ill- ness is not yours. Carved By win- ter, you will be whit- tled to the bone. Thrive I get along best with plants that like to be neglected.	Confession Truth is. I still need my mother. Achievement Today I am breath- ing. Boundaries Dear MS Word: Please stop correct- ing me. This page is mine. • Nettie Farris © 2022
The Inchworm Diaries
Click title to download microchap Cover: Girl with Mask by Lauri Burke •	afternoon shadow Stopped to think and the day grew infinitely longer. panorama Someday I shall see the other side of this puddle. dear diary Do you believe in progress?	a new beginning This morning I awoke to a new beginning. the research question Might I be happier if I could measure out my life with coffee spoons? you do the math Sometimes it feels that 2 + 2 = a lot more than 4. • Nettie Farris © 2017
Story
Click title to download microchap Cover: Girl with Mask by Lauri Burke *	Story Story She composed a little story to make sense of it all. Story When she was drowning, he stood apart and watched. Then, when he was dampened by her splashing, he distanced himself completely. She thought about calling it Distance, but felt she had enough distance in her life already. Boiling Down the Story She decided to condense the story to its essential elements. Little Birds He flew away from her, so she flew after him, so he flew away from her. Little Birds He arrived. He departed. (Her part in the story didn’t much interest her.)	Revision She revised the story in order to make it more truthful. Story When she was drowning, he stood apart and watched. Then, when he was dampened by her splashing, he distanced himself completely. Little Birds He flew away from her, so she flew after him, so he flew away from her. But the story had transformed so utterly that she wondered whether it was the same story at all. Little Ghost Though the story now seemed the same, though smaller, the title (with the elimination of flying) no longer fit. What most interested her was not that he had arrived, nor that he had departed, but that he had remained. Little Ghost Little Birds He arrived. He departed Point of View Little Ghost Little Birds He arrived. He departed. Once she changed the title from “Little Birds” to “Little Ghost,” the story was no longer about distance - at all, but (in a small- subtle-sort- of-way) about intimacy. The End of the Story She had no doubt about how the story ended. The End of the Story She gave him an in but he didn’t take it. She gave him an out, and he took it. The End • Nettie Farris © 2016

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