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.
► Nettie's microchaps & poems are available below. Download the single-page PDF by clicking the title.
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Origami Microchap |
Poems |
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| T H R I V E | ||||
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Click title to download microchap
Cover photo: Strings of Nickels • |
Gaslit
By win-
Thrive
I get along best with plants |
Confession
Truth is. I still need my mother.
Achievement
Today I am breath-
Boundaries Please stop correct- •
Nettie Farris © 2022
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| The Inchworm Diaries | ||||
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Click title to download microchap
Cover: Girl with Mask
by Lauri Burke
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afternoon shadow
Stopped to think and the day grew
panorama Someday I shall see the other side of 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
you do the math Sometimes it feels that 2 + 2 = a lot •
Nettie Farris © 2017
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Click title to download microchap
Cover: Girl with Mask
by Lauri Burke
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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 The End of the Story She gave him an in but he
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Nettie Farris © 2016
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