Poets and Plagiarists

Story Submitted by Leona:

Nelson was a bright guy who claimed that he liked writing poetry.  On our first date (this was after we had messaged and called each other back and forth for a month), he brought me a poem that was very heartfelt and well-written.

Between our first date and second date, he e-mailed me another poem, and on our second date, he handed me another one.  They were all filled with beautiful imagery, and he claimed that it took him a long time to write each one.  I was very impressed.

I also had a vague funny feeling about him, so I typed in a line from one of his poems into Google.

Results came back with the exact phrase for every one, every line, of his poems.  He had plagiarized them all, most of them from one site in particular.  A young woman's personal webpage!

Before our next date, I printed out the poems from her site and put them in my bag.  When Nelson pulled out his "latest work" to show me, I told him that I had written a poem for him, as well.

He was very excited at that statement, and I pulled out the page I had printed that corresponded to the poem he had just given me.

"This is weird," I said, "My poem is exactly the same as yours.  What does this mean?"

He became furious.  "How dare you Google the poems I gave you!  You've got a lot of nerve."

I said, "I think it's nervier to pass off someone else's work as your own and try and manipulate me.  That doesn't strike you as nervy?"

"No," he said.

I was done with this guy.  I collected my printed out paper and left him there with his plagiarized poem.