cheats Ira Lightman is a man on a mission: to root out plagiarism in poetry. And his latest case is the most shameless yet -- -- Gill, five miles south-west of Newcastle, a narrow man with a curly mess of dark red hair. He’d just made a routine visit to the Facebook group Plagiarism Alerts. There, a woman named Kathy Figueroa had posted something extraordinary: “It appears that one of Canada’s former poet -- something extraordinary: “It appears that one of Canada’s former poet laureates has plagiarised a poem by Maya Angelou.” Lightman clicked the link. It led to a Canadian government webpage -- -- Rise. Incredible. But could it really be plagiarism? How likely was it that a poet laureate would steal anything at all, let alone a keystone work by a modern legend? How could he think he’d get away with that? Then -- -- uncomfortable and distressing experiences of my life”, admitting, “I have made several stupid mistakes during my time as a poet and there is simply no excuse for plagiarism.” But he also pushed back: “I have been bullied, victimised and abused by a number of ‘poets’ who thought it necessary to act like a lynch mob.” -- -- Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘I’m absolutely furious’: plagiarised poet Joan Johnston. Photograph: Gary Calton for the Guardian -- -- copy of A Particular Blue, so he could see for himself. “He returned both poems to me, having highlighted the changes Sheree had made, saying, ‘I don’t think it’s plagiarism. I think she’s taken your poem and made something new out of it.’ At which point, I went for another walk.” -- -- considerable distress.” Croft explained that he planned to pulp the remaining copies of Laventille and reprint a corrected version. “I do not believe that your accusations of plagiarism regarding Laventille are justified. But I am not prepared to have this beautiful and important book dirtied by the grubby little fingers of Pooterish -- -- broke/and threatening light/brought into the long night.” How close would two poems have to be for it to be plagiarism, I ask Croft. -- -- their name at the bottom, I’d say, why are you doing that?” And would it be plagiarism? “It would be…” He thinks for a moment. “Pointless. It’s like me saying -- -- “It would be…” He thinks for a moment. “Pointless. It’s like me saying my name is Will Storr. No, it’s not! You’d say that was stupid. You wouldn’t say I was plagiarising you.” *** -- -- Meanwhile, what of the Canadian mystery? Could former laureate DesRuisseaux really have blatantly plagiarised all those canonical poets? It seemed too mad to be true. When Lightman got hold of DesRuisseaux’s book Tranches De Vie, he found even more apparent -- -- findings to Éditions du Noiroît, who appeared to accept his verdict; in emails Lightman showed me, DesRuisseaux’s editor wrote that it was his first experience of plagiarism, and expressed regret at having to tell the poet’s family that he would have to remove the title from circulation. -- -- * Poetry * Plagiarism * Maya Angelou * features -- -- All rights reserved. [p?c1=2&c2=6035250&cv=2.0&cj=1&comscorekw=Poetry%2CPlagiarism%2CBooks%2 CMaya+Angelou]