The editors have just had a busy time dealing with the fall-out when it was discovered that one of our members (using the name 'Inavilita') had been posting a whole string of plagiarised poems. Her membership was immediately revoked and all her postings deleted from the site. Our apologies to those whose poems she stole. It's almost unbelievable that anyone should sink to such pointless thievery, especially, as it turns out, it was from people she knew.

It seems almost pointless to issue our members with a warning over this, but we would be grateful if any member spots anything they suspect might be plagiarised, then please bring it to an editor's attention. This can be done in private through the message board. Apart from the fact that the use of pseudonyms (except when there are special and specific reasons) so often gives an impression of juvenile amateurism, it also lessens any suspicions of rascality if members use their proper names, as well as appearing more professional.

Cheers

milner

I am stunned!!

Interesting News .....as i had asked 'Inavilita' a few times if i could share some of the poems,
yet i wanted an email address from her or a website as a reference before doing so.

I never got a reply from her.

As i have mentioned previously in this forum .... i post my poetry in a jpg format
with a mention of © and my website .....since i have experienced somewhat similar problems.

Would just like to say to those whose poems were stolen, how, on the one hand how sorry we are for the fraud perpetuated, but, on the other, how grateful we are for having seen such fine poetry, though sad that our acknowledgements of that were misdirected.

milner

This is just another reason why we do not want our members hiding behind silly screen names. PoetryCircle was conceived by and for experienced writers. One doesn't submit poems to a literary magazine using a "screen name," and we don't want it done here. Please, if you're not confident enough to put your actual name behind the work you post here, find another Internet venue where you can be anonymous. Goodness knows there are plenty out there.

There's a kind of sick feeling that comes from being taken in this way.  It's only exceeded by having been the one whose poems were stolen.  I hope the real writers come forward so we can acknowlege them.  You gotta say one thing for Inalivita -- she stole the very best.

Rick

Well, yea, its awful that she stole, but honestly, she could have picked a name, 'Susan Smith' and it wouldn't have made a difference. I don't think the heart of this matter is if our screen names are legit or not, I prefer to not post my full name because I prefer not to, it doesn't mean I'm not serious about my writing or anyone else's on here, I just prefer not to. To some degree, I can understand how one, such as you, Jay, would prefer to not have a poetry site loaded with screen names such as, 'dragonslayer', because it would be obvious that perhaps that site might not be taken as seriously as some. But really? Why are we blaming this on her 'fake name'? I think we should be looking into protecting our work on this site, so someone like herself cannot just copy and paste and post on another. I might be ignorant of the matter, but I feel like this is a valid point, yes, no?

Here here. I'm not a fan of fake screen names (and absolutely want everyone to use real names on here), but focusing on that does seem to miss the real point.
Well said dragonslayer.

BRIAN FRANCIS EDWARDS

I don't think we are blaming it on the fake name. The name issue has just surfaced because of the plagiarism. When Jay said: "Please, if you're not confident enough to put your actual name behind the work you post here, find another Internet venue where you can be anonymous." he was asking people to use their real names but in a deeper sense he is asking people to put their reputations on the line.

It is easy to ignore negative comments behind a fake name and easy to step over the honesty line, also. The real name is a request not a deal-breaker requirement. NOBODY gets banned for using fanciful names.

I don't see EB as a fanciful name. Initials are fine with me. It's easy to take EB seriously, her work is outstanding. It is hard to take a dragon slayer or a sunny sunflower very seriously.

Just my opinion. Here's a story I've repeated several times here.

In John Wayne's last movie he played a dying gunman who befriends a young Ron Howard. He teaches Ron to shoot and when Ron exclaims that John must be the best. Wayne says: "It's not being the best or the fastest, it's being WILLING."

If you aren't willing to face the gun, why does it matter if you are the best?

If you are willing, then you reap the reward. Nobody cares if Blue Butterfly wrote a good poem, but someday people might care if Lavonne Westbrooks wrote a good one.

Of course, someone will point out famous poets who have used fanciful names. Raindog comes to mind, but he lives and dies by that name, worked hard to get where he is. He earned that name.

We ENCOURAGE people to sign up with their real name but don't refuse membership or ban people who don't.

Regarding protecting your rights: It is a lot easier to prove your ownership of a piece of work when you use a real or legal name. It is not necessary to put a copyright notice on each piece you post. Just the act of making it public secures your copyright.

Excellently put Lavonne, but I think EB's point stands. She could have used the name Susan Smith and still been a cheat.
Thank you for the detailed explanation though.

B.

Absolutely - Her point is very valid. Not disputing it at all! I like that you chose Susan Smith - that name is famous in the states as belonging to a woman who killed her two children!

And the name on the tombstone I found! The best and the worst of names. A rose by any other... LOL.

:)

Every writers greatest fear is their work being stolen. Having read your opinions on the matter, I was enlightened enough to change my name on the site to my formal name. I whole heartedly agree that while an alias is simply put, a name to hide behind, it is also a lie in some ways to those reading. My account, though only active for a day (newcomer!), was started under the name Missile Bait, but I have gladly shown my true colours.

Oh and Lavonne, your poem, Simpatico, in this issue of shelf life, is amazing, and is how I found my way here.

Glad to greet you under your real name, Ahmed. Welcome.

I've not knowingly been plagiarised, and am thus uncertain how I'd react. I guess it would depend on how and where. As one who only really writes in poetry, where financial rewards are negligible, I certainly don't regard it as my greatest fear. If it occurred, I guess my reaction would be very mixed. Miffed, probably, amused, maybe, flattered more than possibly. Only if someone used it and won a prize would anger arise, and then mostly at myself for not entering it first! I know from experience that others react with real self-righteous rage, but I hope I wouldn't be that touchy. Whatever, good to meet you.

By the by, one advantage of putting stuff on a site such as this, where all is dated and recorded, is that for those concerned with copyright provenance is established.

Cheers

milner

welcome A
good points, G

t

Greetings, Ahmed!

I've been plagiarized 3 times to my knowledge, twice by people I thought of as close friends.  Twice it got ugly, and I had to threaten to sue.

Rick

Welcome Ahmed! 

I do not know that I have been plagiarized, but once I had a small painting stolen that had been hung with other paintings by fellow artists in the lobby of an upscale hotel.  It was a venue for display and for the sale of the works.  I was of mixed feelings: angry for the loss, but flattered that mine was singled out for the theft.  Next time I hung a bigger canvas.  Wouldn't work with the lines of poem, however.

lynn

I find the best protection is to write nothing worth plagiarizing.

Easier done than said, Maurice! Tom

I thought it might be proper to add this to ....this....original thread.
silent louts

with many thankyuuuus to Scott for his research
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   John 'Survivor' Blake
« on: February 05, 2009, 10:08:30 AM » by Scott Douglas
As some of you may remember,
a while back, a Poetry Circle member
was caught plagiarizing.
Never seeing problems but opportunities,
I did what any nosey person would do;
a google search on her name
and found one of the poems.

It's by a person named John Survivor Blake
and here it is:



Intimacy


Everyone wants you sweet,
timid, safe.

Perfume and roses, laminated cards,
red, written in fancy font.

People assume
your house is a home, plants
galore, baskets of sunlight, a living room alive.

where you sleep must be ideal
for gentle passion, pillow talk, and breakfast in bed.

I roll our eyes at the thought of this.
I know you, Love.

You are the third nail through the feet of Christ,
crash of steel to steel, the scream
when the hammer dies flush in bone.

You are the sting of the needle, a vein full of shame for
necessary errands ran to make meetings possible, and then the forgiving euphoria.

Ambivalence of seagulls that witness
another wave smack the shore and leave,
the sand, grateful for even the touch, for pain
and its new, smooth shine.

Passion is an unfastened belt and hiked skirt,
a bathroom stall, and the moan of a secret.

Amazing, the short-term memory.
Some fish just keep swallowing hooks, forgetting
Satan was the most beautiful angel, seraphic,
but with his own agenda tucked under feathers.

You tricked them all. Many have
stopped looking for signs of you, convinced
you no longer exist.

I snicker,
knowing you live
in the teardrops that fall from a mother's chin
land on the chest of her dead child, blend
in with blood, sink in the gunshot wound, washing
away every harsh word they ever exchanged,

down
to the bone.

http://johnblake.livejournal.com/871.html


love it
so I looked a bit more and found his story:


Once upon a time, in a land known as the Lower East Side of a sometimes bitter apple, there was a miracle. A black man and white

woman defied their families and fell in love. SHE became pregnant with their 9th child. After 6 months, while driving home from eating

 out, on a January night, they were run off the road and beaten nearly to death for "making half-nigger kids!" SHE was thrown into the

East River, and HE was left for dead on the FDR Drive...January 1970... Mother, father (a coma for nearly 2 months), and Baby

SURVIVED... Born "The youngest of nine experiments in a two bedroom cage" (Poem; titled, "Mother's Nature"), John Stanley

"Survivor" Blake cut through the earth like a razor, escaping the hell of two parents addicted to dope and booze, with siblings lost;

casualties to the war at home... By the time he was 13, He had his own drug habit to worry about. By 14, he watched his oldest brother,

Benny, be shunned at home for contracting the AIDS Virus. Locked out of the house; Benny Froze to death within a week of

homelessness in the winter of 1984. He was found in an abandoned car at Coney Island.

By the time John was 16, his mother was sentenced to 15 years in prison for manslaughter. Meanwhile his father contracted HIV... At

25 he buried his father, another brother, and a sister from the deadly AIDS virus as well...Another brother passed on, murdered in a

project stairwell, another overdosed, another sister; shot while attempting armed robbery... At 33, John's mother came home from

prison sick with Osteo miolitis ( a severe infection of the bone marrow)... Two years later, she died, and John was then the only

member of his family left.

While preparing to overdose, someone asked him to watch Def Poetry. Needle in arm, Blood cells running for cover. "Survivor

stopped when he heard "Do not let this universe regret you!" (a line in a Marty McConnell poem)...Then he heard "I must ALWAYS

remember (Bassey Ikpi)"...Then "What happened to our conviction? What happened to the limbs out on which we once walked...?

(Taylor Mali)", "The ghetto isn't something to be proud of, it's a circumstance we should be trying to get out of! (Shihan)", and so on,

and so on... He began writing... Now, 2007, "Survivor is a proud member of the Louder Arts slam team!!! Joined by Rachel Mc

Kibbens, Jon Sands, Oveous Maximus (Ove), and Roger Bonair-Agard!!! A 2007 finalist at the Urbana 2007 Grand Slam (at The Bowery

 Poetry Club) in NYC. He was a 4x semi-finalist in 2006 (his first year of slamming) at the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe.

John Blake is now required reading at many spoken word programs in numerous universities, and his writing has been added to the

required readings in OSU's upper class graduate program. He's performed with Saul Williams, Amiri Baraka, Patricia Smith, Taylor
Mali, Shadokat, Mahogany L. Browne, Jive Poetic, Roger Bonair-Agard, Carlos Andres Gomez, and Suheir Hammad, and Malcolm

Jamal Warner. At 37 years of age, "Survivor" is touring the US Joined by Adam "Shadokat", his partner in poetry (as the duo, "And

Justice For All").

He's featured in Denver, Colorado, Las Vegas Nevada, San Jose, Fresno, San Diego, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Reedley, Hollywood
Venice, Santa Monica, and Santa Cruz California, Ft Worth and College Station Texas, Little Rock Arkansas, Wilmington and Newark
Delaware, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Scottsdale, Mesa and Tempe Arizona, Lawton and Tulsa Oklahoma, Richmond and Stafford Virginia
Red Bank, Trenton, and Jersey City New Jersey and New York City. Survivor's also begun speaking in rehabilitation centers
universities (Virginia Tech, Columbia University) and organizing poetry workshops in high schools (Cab Calloway School for the
performing arts), sharing his experiences with chemical dependency, grief, struggle, family, and the miracle of living; through

writing...

Now a loving father, a friend to many, Clean, winning poetry slams in NYC (Nuyorican Poets' Cafe, Urbana at The Bowery Poetry Club

Louder Arts at Bar 13, and Yonkers), NJ (Slammetry in Montclair, also Trenton) Philly, Pa (At "The HEAT" Slam), TX (Ft Worth slam
hosted by Mike Guinn), DE (In both Newark and Wilmington), San Diego, Berkeley, and Oakland, California! John hasn't looked back at

 the hell he came from, with the exception to reflect never forgetting...and measuring the distance he's flown so far!!!

(Expect his autobiographical accounts of struggle in stores summer 08! Edited by Marty McConnell herself!)


 

... not your average Joe.


here is another one of his poems:

 

confession of a juvenile felon
by John Survivor Blake


363 cinder blocks, lock arms, form walls,
to mule my failure. how I tried to make
masterpiece of
this
frayed
canvas.

Born during the fire
next time,
baptized in cocaine laden waters,
left to simmer 'til my rage, golden brown,
moulded by heat on a backburner
in Hell's Kitchen,

The world stood me on my feet
before my legs were ready,
so I stand here, bowlegged,
bones curved, pockets gorged
on heavy expectations
of Nat Turner.
that's why my pants sag.

Mouth to the sky, tongue swirling midnight's clit
sack of haze pours death down my throat,
I choke on the grit but take my fill,
I'm shining
on some street,
in some hood,
glistening in the strobe lights on cop cars,
greater than the missing pages of history books,
a slave's back,
a king's chest ,
a soldier's loyalty.

Seventeen and already a lieutenant
when somebody put a battery in my back
"Get'em!" .
shark fin submerged for the ambush, 
beast off the leash,
bones broke bones.

Loaded barrel of swinging fists, stomping Timbs,
puff of smoke blazed behind me
ballistic scars etched in faces
forever,
a razor through belly slits and rib-caged hearts,
my hood Visa when I established street credit,
feet splashing red puddles
where evil avoids its reflection.

I do think of Jesus, sometimes,
but it's only to remind myself, his daddy
left him here to die too,
children, crucified as far as the eye can see
I'm off my cross 'cause
my mother needed the wood,

You see a demon, but I
deem
me
urban God,
crack-house to penthouse,
mapping Manhattan blocks,
squares on life's chessboard,
lower east side to upper west,
playing for promotion from pawn to royalty
but no,

you wanted an animal.
Here; raised fur,
segregating shoulder blades
paws, fangs, claws.
drop your gavel your honour,
only half the thunderous clap of my nine,
all I got is time
the blood bath, worn by shorties like lip gloss
toenails to match, soaked the same shameful hue
new book of revelations for your bible.
it's all the same religion

in God we trust
right your honour ?
in God we trust.





here is an interview.

http://spokenrythmz.blogspot.com/2007/07/john-survivor-blake.html



why am I telling you all this ?
I don't know but this inspires me.

works for me.


thanks Silent Lotus.
It should be attached to this thread.