Friday, March 27, 2015

Making Mistakes

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
~Napoléon Bonaparte



photo by Paula Bailey

I can't remember the context, but I heard a while ago that everybody makes a mistake every hour. This idea intrigued me, so I think about it sometimes. They can't all be significant mistakes, you know? There must be a big variety. Pondering that inspired today's poem:

What Goes Wrong?
by Tabatha Yeatts

Mistakes flower
Every hour.

Ice cream, dropped.
Joke, flopped.

Tire, flatted.
Jump, splatted.

Directions, lost.
Guidance, tossed.

Trousers, muddied.
Quiz, unstudied.

Pencil, broken.
Care, unspoken.

Team, beaten.
Homework, eaten.

Laundry, pink.
Armor, chink.

**********

Jone is the Poetry Friday host today.

18 comments:

Diane Mayr said...

You've caught them all in one little poem! What fun!

I make typing mistakes several times an hour--so I'm pretty friendly with Miss Take!

Ben said...

Great poem!

Donna Smith said...

LOVED IT! Glad I made it over here this morning. Now you have me thinking about what mistakes I've made already and have only been out of bed for a few hours...ooooh, just in typing this I've had to correct about 10 times...I wonder if it's an average of 1/hr? If so, I'm set for the day when I count my typos!

Answer from my website:"la jeune fille" - in English means "a young girl" which is the definition of "wench".

Keri said...

That closing line, "Armor, chink." is my favorite. Or maybe the muddied/unstudied pair. Clever rhymes, inventive pairings. Well done, my friend. (Backspace, fix typos.)

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes said...

Love your poem, Tabatha! (And the quote and photo you found too.) My relationship with mistakes runs deep, but's all those mistakes that make the un-mistakes that much more endearing. :)

Gathering Books said...

I enjoyed this immensely. As I read through it, I was nodding my head. Mistakes do happen all the time. We just put too much weight on the BIG mistakes, forgetting that on a daily basis we commit small one and it is never the end of the world. Always, we learn from them.

jama said...

Faboo poem, Tabatha! Loved your list -- made me feel better about all the mistakes I keep making. Especially like "homework eaten," and "Armor, chink" (perfect ending).

Matt Forrest Esenwine said...

Nice! And very true.

Amy LV said...

Laundry, pink. Yes. My life is in so many lines of this poem, and yes, knowing I'm not alone is a relief. Thank you for these words - I know it I will think of them often!

Joy said...

Glassware broken.
Words misspoken.

I really enjoy your poem. I agree with Jama, FABOO!

Karin Fisher-Golton said...

A mistake an hour--that is quite an interesting notion. Now I'll be looking for them, too. I love the idea that they "flower." You covered so many classic mistakes. I think my favorite pair is "Team, beaten/Homework, eaten."

Author Amok said...

Oh, that last line is so perfect! I do like your "Trousers, muddied./ Quiz, unstudied" couplet. The two lines together tell a little story.

Anonymous said...

Really fun poem!

Mary Lee said...

LOVE this! I screwed up big time this week, so when I saw your post title, I was eager for some perspective. You never fail to deliver. Thank you thank you thank you for taking mistakes on with humor and creativity!

Linda B said...

Love hearing about the mistakes, Tabatha, and that picture! I mis-call students' names all the time, guess that counts too, along with all the typos. I, like others, love 'armor/chinked', but all the pairs are so good, too.

Becky Shillington said...

What a great poem, Tabatha! I especially love the last stanza...who hasn't turned a load of laundry pink? = )

Pop said...

Wonderful poem, Tabatha. It shows one of the basics of the human condition. :-)

One of my favorite quotes on the subject was said by the comedian Sam Levenson:

"You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself."

Robyn Hood Black said...

Perfectly wonderful post about our imperfections! Thanks as always, Tabatha.
A quote I saw in the (NCTE) Council Chronicle this week has stuck with me: "Mistakes are huge. We don't let our kids make enough mistakes." - Linda Denstaedt