“Distraction” by Nettie Farris

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It occurs to me, now, after some thought, that when you said that you had been occupied, what you really meant was that you had been distracted. Perhaps you picked up Sherman Alexie, read one poem, and then decided to clear off the top of your desk. Then you emptied the cat litter, refilled your pen. You vacuumed the carpet and silently complained about the stains. You googled Vincent Van Gogh and counted the number of his paintings with stars. Then you counted the stars in them. Perhaps you played with the line breaks of your last poem, picked up Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, began reading the first page, then remembered that you knew how it ended, so you put it down again. And perhaps your mind, then, rather than being full, was instead just a little bit empty, at least in the space where I should have been.

-Nettie Farris

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