Gavin Bennett's Blog: 2015 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 9

There’s not much I can say about today except that it’s Monday. Let’s poem anyway.

For today’s prompt, write a mistake poem. The poem can be about making a mistake; it can be about realizing a mistake was made; or it can relay someone else’s mistake. In the past, I’ve written poems about the poems themselves being a mistake. Make no mistake, today is the day for making them.

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Re-create Your Poetry!

Revision doesn’t have to be a chore–something that should be done after the excitement of composing the first draft. Rather, it’s an extension of the creation process!

In the 48-minute tutorial video Re-creating Poetry: How to Revise Poems, poets will be inspired with several ways to re-create their poems with the help of seven revision filters that they can turn to again and again.

Click to continue.

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Here’s my attempt at a Mistake poem:

“Mistakes”

“This is a big mistake,” said Walt. “Did you see that?”
“What,” asked Eddie, “a light? That’s no specter. At best,
it might be an old lady. Or a meth lab. Or an old lady

running a meth lab.” “What do you think, Marcus,” asked
Barbara. Marcus just looked at the house with a determined
expression. Then, he half stood up and started to make

his way toward the house in a crouched position. Without
saying a word, Barbara followed. Then, Eddie. Walt said,
“Marcus?” But then, he followed too. No more lights

flashed in the windows as they approached, and there was
nary a sound–as if even the natural world held its breath
in the presence of this house. Marcus led the group

to a spot just below a window on the side of the house
when a voice broke the silence: “You’ve made a mistake.”

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Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community and author of the poetry collection, Solving the World’s Problems (Press 53). He edits Poet’s Market and Writer’s Market, in addition to writing a free weekly WritersMarket.com newsletter and a poetry column for Writer’s Digest magazine.

This is his eighth year of hosting and participating in the November PAD (Poem-A-Day) Chapbook Challenge. He can’t wait to see what everyone creates this month–not only on a day-by-day basis, but when the chapbooks start arriving in December and January. Fun, fun, fun.

Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.

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