Confessions of a Plagiarist

Sometimes it is
Hard to find the
Voice inside you that
Pushed you to create the
Poetry that others read.

And in desperation to
Satisfy your newly found fans
You resort to the beast
That is the bane
Of every writer's existence:
Plagiarism.

Find a good quote online?
Excellent.
Now just completely remove the text,
Reword it a bit to
Match your writing style,
Then slap your name on it
And claim that the product was
Your own to begin with.

Next thing you know
That poem gets lots of recognition,
Although not the one
That you expect.

Then you get many poets who are
Ampt to find any tidbit of information
To use to riddle your name to the grave
Jumping at your throat for your
Inexcusable plagiarism.

You play it off by removing it
Then trying to move on,
But at that point the
Damage is already done.

People start to become
Skeptical of the syllables you spell,
Searching for any similarities on
Separate sites in order to
Smite you once again.

So this is just my way of saying sorry,
For tarnishing the works of many
Other writers,
For not listening to the
Words that have been clamouring
At me to stop giving in to the
Beast of deception.

From now on,
The voices you will see
Written out in front of you
Will come from the conundrums
That are hidden in my head.

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This poem was a bit personal, as it does connect to some that I have written and now deleted in the past. I do assure all of you that I am striving to no longer give into the demon of copy/pasting, as it has become so easy, especially in this day and age where you can literally do so without a second thought. But let this also be a lesson to all of you who would think about plagiarizing: Just don't. Please.