Shining Failures

I line them up for you

• Griffoni altar by Francesco del Cossa, Sailko

I dreamt about my failures last night

lined them up

like tin cans on a fence

shining in the sunlight

gleaming

like a set of new pennies

there were so many of them

that my eye couldn’t

really take stock

of a beginning or ending to them

and as I watched them

still and gleaming

I thought about

my willingness to try again

the thought timid and slim

each time

so I packed away each failure

carefully placing a modicum

of success on top,

its shimmer

the last thing I see before I close the lid.

copyright/all rights reserved Audrey Howitt 2012

Reviews

[Leslie Philibert]

Audrey writes very well, what I like here is the startling, orginal metaphor at the start and the way the idea is worked through the poem, explained and broadened with lyrical ability, good writing.

[Mama Topaz]

Ha! I thought the same thing as Neva... I was waiting for you to shoot them off the fence. You captivated me with this poem. WELL DONE!

[emmajoy]

Brilliant way of looking at failures! Brilliant way of hiding them away forever! You use words so delicately and wisely .. and in this, show a lesson so many of us could use - it's like try, try and try again, and learn by mistakes in the process. Thank you.

[...]

. this is absolutely beautiful poetry ... so sweet and so profound ... and i love the image of tin cans ... and the last bit about "a modicum of success on top" especially ... lovely work, dear audrey ...

[Ed Hart]

you've got to have miles of failures to write a decent poem...but you knew that

[bob, small b. aka invs]

it's always good to remember that without all those many failures, the few shining successes might not have ever happened. this was an excellent little allegory. nicely done.

[Neva Flores Smith - Cha..]

Love this Audrey, thought for sure you would do what I had in mind. Take out my .38 and shoot them failures right off the fence........wonderful poetry.