My Rhyming Happy Poetry is 100% Unique ~ Posting Poetry, Plagiarism, and Plenty More

Definition of POET

1

: one who writes poetry : a maker of verses

2

: one (as a creative artist) of great imaginative and expressive capabilities and special sensitivity to the medium

As I am a poet that publishes poems on the internet for fun, I often reflect on why I am blogging and sharing some poetry.  I often wonder if I should be submitting my poems somewhere, putting them all in a book for myself to publish someday, saving them for my kids to toss unread into the trash after I am gone... etc. etc.  I also want to make sure that my work is kept safe from those that might claim it as their own.

My thoughts are that I will share my poems here on my blog, and if more happens with them that is GREAT!  If someone just enjoys them that is nice too.  If no one reads my posts... I am at least having fun with my online blog and it seems to be keeping me out of trouble (or at least out of the mall) for the most part!  Also... my blog has a healthy appetite so I keep creating more (as inspiration strikes) to feed it!  If I did not have the blog I don't think I would be so excited to create.  So... it is a win/win/win... If you have any suggestions for me I would love to hear them.

I see my blog as a journal of sorts.  I love that I am certain to be positive because I have made it a rule for my blog that it has to be nearly 100% SUPER-cheesy positive.  I enjoy going back to my old poems/posts and improving (repairing grammar!) them, adding pictures, changing font and sizing, etc.  On the chance that one of my poems is good enough that someone may want to steal it, I am going to research how to watch for plagiarism.  I also have one or two good article links about writing and poetry that I once found... and I am going to try to find them (good luck to me) and source them here as well. I don't know if YOU need to know why I do what I do or if I should do it... but for some reason I must contemplate and research... so here goes.

I am looking for a good site to use to check for plagiarism.  Here is a plagiarism checker site used with one of my favorite (of mine) poems that I wrote called Cherished Child of God.   

I searched for sites... and used the first one on top of the list.  It is a site called Small SEO Checker Plagiarism Checker  and I used it to check the poem for plagiarism.  Here were my "Cherished Child of God" results (that show lines mixed up from my poem).  (By the way this is also where I got the title for this blog post... why I claim to have 100% unique poetry... because the results told me!  : ) 

Results:  0% Unique Content

A thousand clear memories from throughout the years

Existing (May 27, 2013)

There is daughter and sister wife mother and friend

Existing (May 27, 2013)

There's warrior battling trouble through to bitter

Existing (May 27, 2013)

There's goodness and kindness and badness and sin

Existing (May 27, 2013)

There's a humble wise woman humanitarian blend

Existing (May 27, 2013)

poet, artist, writer and then

Existing (May 27, 2013)

A part of your content is matching some text from the Web. Please make sure that this text is correctly referenced.

It says it is 0% Unique... which is great... because it pulled up MY blog where I have it published!  That means success... I am the author!  I click right on the red line and it takes my to my post link.

If I only had the poem pasted in a nice font on the free image (with the pink flowers) that I created in Picasa, the checker would not have picked it up as written works.  I have physically typed each of my "image only" poems into the end of each Blogger post, so that "the internet" or plagiarism checkers will pick it up.  I am hoping that by doing so I will better control my content for plagiarism.

On to further research... Here is someone that has written a wonderful blog post called 5 Reasons Google is My Primary Plagiarism Checker by Jonathan Bailey and it is on a site called PT Plagiarism Today which looks AMAZING!!! I am going to do my own major homework... look into this article and the entire site. The first comment on the article is from a teacher that mentions another site used to check for plagiarism with students. This article is dated February 2010 but it looks good to me too.

Before I created my Blog I was uncertain about putting my happy poems out on the internet.  I decided to do some research.  The Essay I found that spoke to me (by saying "Just Get the Poems Out There" in the title!!!!) as I considered blogging is written by Shanna Compton:

Just Get the Poems Out There
How one writer found her home among the poet bloggers.
BY SHANNA COMPTON

She talks about how blogging has created a new avenue for poets to share their works.  Reading that made me feel more comfortable about just going for it.  What did I have to lose... since the poems were just going to sit in a drawer.  Not only that... but the blogging process is what has since inspired me to create MORE poems!  Some of the newly inspired works have become my favorites... so I am glad I began blogging for fun!

Another article that SPEAKS LOUDLY to me is written by John C. Mannone.  It is a place to enjoy modern day rhyming metered poems.
John C. Mannone: The Art of Poetry - Is Rhyming Poetry Out?

John C. Mannone talks favorably and intelligently about my favorite kind of poetry (rhyming) and also introduces me to a place called Measure Press that I am going to immediately investigate!!!

As an English Major in college (and just as a person too) I was madly in love with many rhyming poets from times past.  I enjoy 18th Century Poets, William Shakespeare, Shel Silverstein as well as many classic English Novels.  I also love the series Anne of Green Gables by and have a similar nostalgic heart and optimistic outlook than influences all that I write.  Actually you can learn about nearly ALL the books I've ever loved here.) 


My brain on auto pilot creates happy rhyming poetry.  I write about all things, but only post positive works on my blog. I am a substitute teacher, as well as a possible future teacher with a classroom of my own, so I am going to be a happy positive rated G wherever I post.  Any other more serious/expressive works go someplace else, and they still tend to rhyme too.  I believe I write poetry because I just must write poetry.  At times I believe that in daily living I have to consciously try NOT to write in cheesy rhyming format.  I think it has something to do with the unique wiring in my brain... it is all purple and lilac~y with glittery sparkles.

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