A Poets View

Photo courtesy of www.leadingessays.com

Plagiarism is rampant across the Internet.  When it happens to you it seems as though you are the only one experiencing it however you are not alone.  With so many websites and blogs saturating the Internet it is likely at some point and time you will be plagiarized.

Plagiarism is simply the stealing of another person’s ideas and words then passing them off as your own.  As writers, when we research stories it is necessary that we use citation on photos, quotes, sentences etc…  For photos I always like to just mention the website and sometimes with a clickable link to the site.

On Sunday, as I always do, I began preparing some writing for the next day.  I also do my advertising on that day and all the incidentals that go along with writing a blog.  One of the things I always do is go to Copyscape (just Google it to bring up the site)  and check all my blogs and websites.  I do this because I was plagiarized once before on Poetry.com so I regularly check that site.  While checking my A Poet’s View blog to my horror I found two separate blogs which had almost all of my recent posts copied and altered on each blog to include photos and the affiliate links that I post with my blogs.  These blogs which copied my content are: http://duhos.info and http://davbyrne.info

Take a look at my A Poets View blog then take a look at each of the blogs I’ve mentioned and you can clearly see what they have done. 

They’ve copied my content and altered the phrasing which basically was smart on their part because by doing so if there were any legal action taken I would have to prove that the original content was mine.  What they obviously do not know is that I can easily prove this content to be mine just for the fact alone that I have affiliate links on the posts which are only available to me just as with all of your blogs they are only available to you. So, this is also a good lesson on getting those affiliate links on each of your posts.

Of course I was infuriated and as I always mention on this blog act with your heart and not your ego, well I did not take my own advice.  I basically wrote a firm and threatening letter to the email address associated with these two blogs and basically told them to get the posts down or I’d contact my attorney.

Back to the lessons on plagiarism.  It is a crime and is punishable by legal action.  The first thing you should do when someone blatantly steals your content is write to them and nicely ask them to take the content down.  Of course in my case, I was not nice at all and I do not intend to be in the future.   Give them a reasonable time to take the content off the site which could be one to two weeks.  Again, I told them ASAP which means NOW! If they do not remove the content you can either ask them to cite you, the original author as the source or you can write to the host server and report that your work was plagiarized.  I passed on all of these and went for the kill.  If none of these actions work then you talk to an attorney.  Exactly what I did.  I have many friends who are attorneys.  Here are a couple of links which are very informative in copyright law and the inner workings of plagiarism.  Copyright Law and Plagiarism Website .

The next thing to do is check out the Whois site where you can type in the domain name of the plagiarist site and find out who and where they are.   If they are in your neighborhood you can easily go buy rolls of toilet paper at Safeway, write PLAGIARIST all over the toilet paper then toilet paper their house. See I’m covering my behind again using affiliate links in my post.  If you do not have a Safeway near you click the link below.

In my case, the domain name was registered to someone in Russia so I guess the toilet papering is out.  The Whois site gives you all sorts of information including addresses and phone numbers.  With this information you can contact them directly.  Again, in my case I’m not calling Russia though I am close to Alaska so I may give S. Palin a call and see if she could deliver a message for me.  I’m being sarcastic to hide the anger here.

In any case I will keep you updated on what happens with this situation and I also wanted to mention that a few of the posts on both of these sites looked familiar to me so you may want to check them out thoroughly.

I will be really interested to see if this post shows up on their sites.  So far all my posts have so this should be interesting.

Two things I’d like to mention here:

First - Being angry doesn’t solve anything.  Remember you can choose your reaction to situations good or bad.

Second - I guess I should be flattered.  The fact that they would want to steal my writing only shows they have good taste though they are not very intelligent.  My personal suggestion to the plagiarist - Learn how to spell and use correct grammar so that when you are caught you may be able to get away with this crime.  Yes, it is a crime.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

by: Robert Frost

Being independent is seen sometimes as being different in today’s society.  If we find ourselves taking a different path than our peers we are seen as the “odd” one.  Yet do we really want to have someone else thinking for us or making decisions for us because it’s the popular thing to do?  Just because your peers are taking drugs or drinking and driving does that mean that you have to adhere to that same behavior?  In high school and college I know that many of us were faced with these situations.  Many of us followed what everyone else was doing because it was the “cool” thing to do.

Many people also follow the guidance of others in relation to what they do for a living.  We may want to become a  writer or musician yet we are guided towards another career by well meaning people who decide they should do our thinking for us.  It takes courage and an immense amount of self confidence to take the road less traveled.   It is so much easier to follow the pack than journey alone, yet a journey alone provides us the freedom we need to grow and become who we were meant to be.  We can only find our true self by taking the road less traveled.

I snapped the photo above while at the Botanical Gardens.  I watched my little feathered friend for a matter of about five or six minutes.  While his peers were enjoying the water, murky as it was, he simply stood there and watched.  His contemplation gave me the idea for this post.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Believe in what your heart tells you to do.  Following your peers in what they think and do only allows you to ignore your true self.  Think for yourself even if it differs from others.

2. Let go of expectations.  Let others be who they are.  Even if you do not like their choices or have the same beliefs allow them to be an individual and independent of anyone else.

3. Listen to your heart.  Even if you have conformed to a certain way of living yet feel in your heart you want something different, you have to take the road your heart provides.  As my favorite guru, Dr. Wayne Dyer professes, “The reward of self-sufficiency will far outweigh the practice of conformity.”

An Easter Carol

by: Christina Rossetti

Spring bursts to-day,
For Christ is risen and all the earth’s at play.

Flash forth, thou Sun,
The rain is over and gone, its work is done.

Winter is past,
Sweet Spring is come at last, is come at last.

Bud, Fig and Vine,
Bud, Olive, fat with fruit and oil and wine.

Break forth this morn
In roses, thou but yesterday a Thorn.

Uplift thy head,
O pure white Lily through the Winter dead.

Beside your dams
Leap and rejoice, you merry-making Lambs.

All Herds and Flocks
Rejoice, all Beasts of thickets and of rocks.

Sing, Creatures, sing,
Angels and Men and Birds and everything.

All notes of Doves
Fill all our world: this is the time of loves.

Photo courtesty of www.twinspin.org

This is a poem I wrote years ago for a specific Religious publication.  It is in the Pindaric Ode traditional verse style and I thought it appropriate to post it for Easter.

The Northern Gate

A child is born unto the night
into the womb of Heaven’s light.
His journey sows a seed of peace
As sacrificial lamb to fleece.
His shoulders bear a cross of blood
As tears of sin unleash the flood.

     Thine eyes behold the Northern gate
And see the star’s prophetic fate.

Forsaken not by Father’s hand
His death doth scar a shallow land.
He rose above upon third day
Sight unseen to light the way.
His death become the gift of life
To free the soul of endless strife.

     Thine eyes behold the Northern gate
And see the star’s prophetic fate.

A Happy and Blessed Easter to all!!!

First Time He Kissed Me

by: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

First time he kissed me, he but only kissed

The fingers of this hand wherewith I write,

And ever since it grew more clean and white,…

Slow to world-greetings…quick with its “Oh, list,”

When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst

I could not wear here plainer to my sight,

Than that first kiss. The second passed in height

The first, and sought the forehead, and half missed,

Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed!

That was the chrism of love, which love’s own crown,

With sanctifying sweetness, did precede.

The third, upon my lips, was folded down

In perfect, purple state! since when, indeed,

I have been proud and said, “My Love, my own.”

Poetic Shutterbug is a blog in which I post my poetry and photography.  I have had it for a few months now and was advertising solely through Entrecard.  However, I have decided to “breakup” with Entrecard and use other advertising venues such as Today.com   What I would like to do is build a blogroll on this blog for anyone who has a poetry or photography blog.  What I would like to do is add photos of your blogs with a link to your blog.  Something much like an EC widget at 125 x 125.  So, if anyone is interested and you have a poetry or photo blog, email me at jmcojo@gmail.com with your html and I’ll add you to Poetic Shutterbug .  Because I no longer have EC I will be heavily advertising this blog as much as I do my today.com blogs.

If you do not have a poetry or photography blog and are a Today.com blogger, email me your link and I’ll add it to a link blogroll.

For all of you who dropped EC on me in the past I thank you very much.  I would like to keep in touch so leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.

Thank you. Jo aka jodapoet

Below is an interview I conducted of one of my favorite people, Paula Katinas.  She is not only a gifted writer but a great friend.  She works as a reporter in New York which is something I greatly admire about her.  I would so much enjoy being a reporter.  I wanted to introduce her to all of you and report on some fascinating facts about Paula.  For more information about her you can visit her myspace link at the bottom of this post.

Thank you Paula for affording me the opportunity to interview you.

1.  It must be exciting reporting for a local publication.  What made you decide to become a reporter?

       I have wanted to be a newspaper reporter since I was a child. I saw the “Superman” television shows, as well as movies like “His Girl Friday,” and they really struck a chord with me. I thought journalism was a glamorous profession filled with witty women who fell in love with equally witty men. So, I guess my answer to the question of what made me decide to become a newspaper reporter is that it fed my movie-filled imagination. I fantasized a lot as a kid. While my job is far from glamorous, I still love it because it allows me to fulfill a fantasy of being a writer. It is exciting work. I cover everything from drug busts to community board meetings and get to write features on interesting local people. I just wrote an article on a local woman named Giulia Melucci who has published her first book, a memoir titled “I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti.” It’s a memoir about how she is so successful in the kitchen but has lousy relationships with men. I really like the variety of articles I get to write. Also, being a reporter makes you feel like a big shot in the neighborhood. It’s a big ego boost when the local congressman takes your calls.

2.  Finish this sentence.  If I weren’t a reporter, I would be a…

      If I weren’t a reporter I would be working in a grocery store or a supermarket stocking shelves. I think working in journalism has opened up a world of possibilities for me that I would have been too shy to think of, otherwise. I think my life would have been so much different. I would have been too shy and withdrawn to go after my dreams.

3.  Is there one particular story that stands out above the rest?

       There are a number of stories that come to mind. The September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center was certainly memorable. I was not at the Twin Towers that day, but the community I cover, Bay Ridge, lost 32 people in the attack. Two days after the attack, this would be Thursday of that week, the families of the victims started coming into the newspaper office one by one asking us to write about them. I sat with many of them, interviewed them, and tried to get a sense of who these victims were. My paper printed numerous articles about the victims over the next several weeks. One of them was a 25-year-old man named Terrence Gazzani, who worked in Cantor Fitzgerald, the bond firm which had offices on the top two floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. His aunt brought in a picture of him. He was a handsome kid. He could have been a model, that’s how handsome he was. I showed the picture to my editor and saw, “This is what the terrorists have done. They’ve taken away promising young people like this kid.” But I have also loved many of the features I have written throughout the years. I did a couple of articles two years ago on two local radio personalities here in New York named Joey Salvia and Christina Stoffo. Both were regulars on The Michael Kay Show, a sports talk radio show on ESPN Radio. And they are both originally from Brooklyn. Christina is no longer with the show. Both of these talented people are very different off the air than on. They seemed nicer, much more intelligent and articulate off the air. For a long time on the show, Salvia played the role of a womanizing sleazeball and Stoffo played a sex kitten. In real life, he’s a married man with a young son and she’s so intelligent, she could run a major corporation. The interviews made me realize that a lot of what you hear on the radio, even on talk shows, is role playing. Interestingly, Salvia’s role on the show seems to be changing. They even ‘fessed up to the fact that he’s happily married and the father of a newborn.

4.  I know you are an avid reader.  What is your favorite genre and who is your favorite author?

      I actually like non-fiction better than fiction. I like biographies and books about politics. In terms of fiction, my favorite writer is Jane Austen. I try to re-read “Pride and Prejudice” and “Persuasion” every couple of years.

5.  Working on a novel is very time consuming.  When do you find time to write?

      This is an interesting question to me because I am grappling with this issue at the moment. I am finding it very difficult to find the time. I write all day for a living.  And I often cover things at night. When I come home, all I want to do is relax. Working on the novel seems like an extension of the workday to me. But I am going to try to break the writing down into smaller segments, even if it’s just 15 or 20 minutes a day. It will take a much longer time to finish the novel, but I think it will be a better pace for me.

6.  Tell us a little something about your novel.

      My novel is about a middle-aged woman who helps a man in his mid-30’s search for his missing father on the streets of New York. The main character, Margaret, is based on me. She’s a newspaper reporter with a self-confidence problem. In the book, she’s going to learn a lot about herself and her capabilities. In the search for this old man, she’s going to find herself. I have written about 50 pages so far.

7.  Finish this sentence.  When I am not working you can find me…

When I am not working, you can find me taking long walks, reading a good book, or
spending time with friends.  My friends are very important to me.

8.  If and when you experience writer’s block, how do you deal with it?

      Writer’s block is a tough thing to deal with. My way of dealing with it is to just write, even if what I’m writing is idiotic and will never see the light of day. The act of writing itself gets you unblocked, I believe. I think people experience writer’s block because they are perfectionists. They want what they’re writing to be PERFECT. When you write for a newspaper and you have to produce three or four articles a day, you know they’re not all going to be sensational. You just do it.

9.   What inspires you?

      Everything inspires me. A sunrise, the sound of birds chirping, overhearing a person on the subway saying something funny, a movie, a piece of music, a baby’s smile. Everything.

10. What makes you smile?

      I smile when I see an act of kindness, whether it’s directed at me or is just something I’m witnessing.

Thank you so much for this interview. If you want to learn more about me, I’m on Facebook (search for Paula Katinas) and I’m on MySpace, where you can find me at http://www.myspace.com/woman617

BEAUTY
John Masefield

Have seen dawn and sunset on moors and windy hills
Coming in solemn beauty like slow old tunes of Spain:
I have seen the lady April bringing in the daffodils,
Bringing the springing grass and the soft warm April rain.

I have heard the song of the blossoms and the old chant of the sea,
And seen strange lands from under the arched white sails of ships;
But the loveliest things of beauty God ever has showed to me
Are her voice, and her hair, and eyes, and the dear red curve of her lips. 

Shall I compare thee to a summers day
Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

In celebration of National Poetry Month I will be bringing you a poem a day.  So sign up and subscribe or visit each day for your daily dose of poetry.

An April Day by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

When the warm sun, that brings
Seed-time and harvest, has returned again,
‘T is sweet to visit the still wood, where springs
The first flower of the plain.

I love the season well,
When forest glades are teeming with bright forms,
Nor dark and many-folded clouds foretell
The coming-on of storms.

From the earth’s loosened mould
The sapling draws its sustenance, and thrives;
Though stricken to the heart with winter’s cold,
The drooping tree revives.

The softly-warbled song
Comes from the pleasant woods, and colored wings
Glance quick in the bright sun, that moves along
The forest openings.

When the bright sunset fills
The silver woods with light, the green slope throws
Its shadows in the hollows of the hills,
And wide the upland glows.

And when the eve is born,
In the blue lake the sky, o’er-reaching far,
Is hollowed out and the moon dips her horn,
And twinkles many a star.

Inverted in the tide
Stand the gray rocks, and trembling shadows throw,
And the fair trees look over, side by side,
And see themselves below.

Sweet April! many a thought
Is wedded unto thee, as hearts are wed;
Nor shall they fail, till, to its autumn brought,
Life’s golden fruit is shed.

a series of haiku/senryu examples

summer rains
the urban pavement
a concrete ski slope

orange sunset
a tequila sunrise
at last call

beach bonfire
his alcohol breath
fuels the flames

sunbathing
she burns toast
for breakfast

morning sun rises
across eastern skies
an orange smoothie

desert summer
sans humidity
her hot flash lingers

cumulus clouds
pattern the sky
cotton candy

moonlight stroll
a spider
webs his way through darkness

hot air balloons
his speech goes in one ear
and out the other

summer night
crickets scatting jazz tunes
my ear wax gone

midsummer’s dream
fantasies
in high definition

sunrise menuet
he hits the snooze button
and sleeps in

high tide -
low tide
the yin yang of it all

Blue Turtle Crossing which is created and lovingly produced by my friend and fellow writer Colleen Breuning is an eclectic mix of poetry and art by some of the most talented artists around.

Colleen’s photography graces the home page with a myriad slideshow containing photos from her travels and personal life.  She is an excellent photographer and one who I greatly admire.  She is also an outstanding writer and poet.  She is one of the most creative artists I have ever known.

Each poet within Blue Turtle Crossing has a page of their own to display their own unique creative talents along with links to their works around the Internet.  The ezine is very well styled and produced.  I urge all of you to take a look around and enjoy the inspirational works of art.  Visit Blue Turtle Crossing.

Hello all,

Thank you.
Jo aka jodapoet

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles.  It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.  ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Have you ever noticed that when you are kind to someone the joy you feel is immeasurable?  Just smiling and saying hello to someone on the street can not only put a smile on their face but allow you to share your heart with someone.

There are those who would be kind in order to get something from you and sometimes it is difficult to tell whether they are being genuine or have their own agenda.  The sure fire way to tell is how do you feel when they are kind to you.  If you feel a sense of joy and love within your heart then they are being genuine.  If your intuition kicks in and you find yourself asking, why are they being so nice, then you’ve already answered your question.

Just think if we were all kind to each other what a different world this would be.  There would not be wars, there would not be violence and there would not be anyone hurt or angered.  As humans we sometimes choose not to be kind and that is the problem.  Our choices are made with our egos rather than our hearts. Be kind and act from your heart.

Here are a few suggestions

1. Each day smile and say hello to a stranger.  It may not seem like much but it will make both of you feel significant and boundless joy.

2. When you answer your phone, smile.  I know this seems weird but a friend of mine told me this and she does this each time she answers her phone.  Why? because the smile is felt by the other person.  

3. Do a random act of kindness.  It could be donating to a cause or it could be helping a friend with groceries or simply taking the time to let someone know you care.  Do it everyday without fail and you’ll see the difference it makes.

The year’s at the spring
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hillside’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in His heaven -
All’s right with the world!

~Robert Browning

I love this poem by Robert Browning.  It epitomizes perfection. It speaks of new birth.  The birth of Spring, the birth of dawn.  It shows how the universe is in order and on a divine path.  The earth and nature are perfection.  As humans, we manipulate the earth and it’s bounty by our ego driven acts. Rather than looking at the earth and the gifts it has bestowed upon us we are constantly looking for more and striving to be that perfect person.  We look for situations and outside sources to make us feel perfect.  We look without rather than within.  Rather than seeing the earth in awe, we see it as awful.

Each day the earth rotates, the sun rises, the sun sets, the stars glisten and the flowers bloom. These daily earthly rituals are perfection yet we only see the imperfections.  Being out in nature will refresh your senses and allow you to see the perfection within you.  Our roots are grounded in nature so if nature is perfection, so are we.  We do not need the outside sources to become perfect.  We already are perfect.

Here are some suggestions

1. Give yourself a few minutes each day to experience the perfection around you.  Get outside and just see, listen and feel nature.  Breathe it and allow it to permeate your senses.  This will bring a sense of gratitude for the earth in which we live.

2. See yourself as perfection.  You are connected to nature.  It is inside you and therefore divine.

A Psalm of Life by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
“Life is but an empty dream!”
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And thing are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
“Dust thou art, to dust returnest,”
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle;
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act – act in the living Present!
Heart within and God o’erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

When thinking of quotations to include with this post on enthusiasm this poem was the first to come to mind.  Normally I only post a portion of a poem or quotation but in this case I wanted you to view the entire work.

The message is clear within the imagery.  Longfellow suffered throughout his life yet never allowed himself to dwell in the past.  He was always following his passions and working with enthusiasm and vigor.

It speaks of the soul or spirit being our true self.  We all have spirits and unfortunately for some of us our spirits lay dormant.  Rather than going within to find our true calling or passions we live in the past hoping that the future will bring us to a better place.  By living in this manner, we lose not only precious time but we also lose ourselves.

We need to live in the moment, in the present, in the now.  The past is gone and the future unknown therefore the present is all we have and all we must live.  Spring is here when flowers blossom and dew kissed leaves warm upon the sun’s kiss. We too are blossoming when we reach in and allow our spirits to fly.

How do we live enthusiastically?

1. Whenever participating in any activity imagine it is both your first and last time.  By approaching the activity, no matter what it is as if you have never before or ever will experience it again, it allows you to see the situation refreshed with a new look.

2. Do not define yourself.  Rather say to yourself I am going to let my enthusiasm show and not let it slumber into oblivion.

3.  Participate in life.  Don’t sit on the sidelines watching the world go by.  As Longfellow says “be up and doing.”

My dear friend and fellow writer, Colleen Breuning has created another beautifully designed poetic audio and photo montage titled Intertwine.  This creation is a sensual and traditionally styled pantoum written and performed by Colleen.  You can visit her website at Blue Turtle Crossing for more information on Colleen, her writings, photography and video creations.  Enjoy!

A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman ~Wallace Stevens

A true and insightful quote by Wallace Stevens.  A poet looks at the world with desire, wanting and is held spellbound by the beauty the world holds.  A poet experiences the world with his or her heart.  The senses take over the mind and the words are born within the poet’s spirit.  The poet intellectually understands the world for what it is yet sees the hidden beauty within the facade.

I truly believe that anyone can become a poet.  They just need to open their hearts to the world around them and let their passions take over.  Once they understand their spirit, the pen will take over and write.  Your thoughts on being a poet?

From Kemble Scott - The Editor of SoMa Literary Review.

What a true and beautiful sentiment.  All too often we procrastinate or tell ourselves we “can’t do something because” - there’s always an excuse.  We use excuses so we don’t have to take that leap and do something we’ve always wanted to do out of pure fear. 

We all have dreams and aspirations.  Yet we either listen to that little voice in our head that says “we can’t do it” or we listen to others who tell us not to waste our time on frivolous activities.  We need to listen to our soul.  Our inner spirit holds the key to our happiness.  It knows our passions.  It is where we need to visit in order to fulfill our purpose.

No matter what your inner passions are they need to be born.  We all have creative aspirations - activities we want to do.  Whether it be painting, singing, climbing a mountain or bungee jumping we have to stop procrastinating and take that leap.  Don’t let any obstacles stand in your way.  Get up and get doing and seize the moment.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. You have to begin somewhere.  So, make a list of all the things you want to do.  Just jotting them down is the beginning point.

2. Despite any negative thoughts you may have, work on the first item on your list.  Don’t tell yourself you have to finish the project just commit to starting the project.

3. Shed all those excuses.  Excuses arise out of fear.  Take that first step.

4. Surround yourself with positive people. Those naysayers in your life - Shed them along with the excuses.