Gavin Bennett's Blog: Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 404

For today’s prompt, write an error poem. Alexander Pope said it best, “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” We’re all human, and we all commit errors in life, whether intended or not. Some of them are small errors, like misplaying a ground ball in baseball or spilling milk. Others are much larger and complicated. And yes, there are non-human errors too. For some, it may be obvious that this prompt is inspired by the “404 errors” that used to riddle the Internet. Let’s have fun erring together.

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Here’s my attempt at an Error Poem:

“Fast Break”

As Jimmy came down with the rebound,
I broke to the other side of the court
with my hand raised for the pass bound
for me, and I knew I could resort

to a layup if I was guarded close,
and at worst I might get fouled by Tim,
but I found no one to stop my approach,
and still I was stuffed by the rim.

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Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community and author of Solving the World’s Problems (Press 53). He loves basketball, but he never could pull off a dunk at regulation height.

Follow him on Twitter @RobertLeeBrewer.

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