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Imitation Is All That's Left

Every poet plagiarizes The thoughts of those who came before And despite best enterprises At best we merely mention more The thoughts of those who came before They offered all there is to give At best we merely mention more We add another adjective They offered all there is to give Imitation is all that's left We add another adjective Our finest works are tacit theft Imitation is all that's left And despite best enterprises Our finest works are tacit theft Every poet plagiarizes

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Debjani Mitra

Date: 10/9/2018 9:24:00 PM

such a new theme ...it's surely not plagiarism. we indeed get 'inspired '...it's not copying. .Ha..Ha

Gershon Wolf

Date: 9/3/2018 9:13:00 PM

So true, my friend, so true. As the Bard Himself wrote: 'There is nothing new under the sun except combinations and recombinations thereof.' And he stole that, unashamedly, from Ecclesiastes/King Solomon, who no doubt had heard it somewhere....and on and on... Best wishes, Gershon

Emile Pinet

Date: 8/30/2018 8:42:00 AM

I enjoyed this write, we all use the same words to describe our experiences but we arrange those words differently in our compositions in order to express our individualistic thoughts and feelings. Unless we invent new words or ideas, you are right we all plagiarize the poets that have come before us in principle...but no two works are the same, like snowflakes all the components are the same but the end result is always unique to the writer. Emile.

Jesse Rowe
Date: 8/30/2018 11:06:00 AM

I absolutely agree. This came in response to my annoyance at how difficult it is to truly be unique in your writing. More of a passing angst mostly.