{"id":4379,"date":"2006-02-14T00:01:01","date_gmt":"2006-02-14T04:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2006\/02\/14\/plagiarized-haiku-george-swed"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:54:10","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:54:10","slug":"plagiarized-haiku-george-swedes-tale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2006\/02\/14\/plagiarized-haiku-george-swedes-tale\/","title":{"rendered":"plagiarized haiku: george swede’s tale"},"content":{"rendered":"

M<\/strong><\/em>ost lawyers, as well as the general public and haiku poets, probably<\/span><\/font> think of the world of haiku as a <\/span><\/font>peaceable <\/span><\/font>kingdom — inhabited by<\/span><\/font> gentle souls of goodwill. While looking for <\/span><\/font>a few of my favorite poems<\/span><\/font> by George Swede<\/a> yesterday, and hoping to supplement them with new<\/span><\/font> ones, I discovered <\/span><\/font>a darker side of haiku: a tale of plagiarism and haijin<\/span><\/font> posses, and swift justice. Here’s what I learned:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/blockquote>\n
\n

<\/span>\"pirateS\"<\/span><\/font>Searching through the latest edition of <\/font>Frogpond<\/font><\/em><\/a> (the journal of the Haiku<\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span> Society of America),<\/span> Vol. XXVIII:3, 2005, <\/span>to see whether it contained<\/span><\/font><\/font> new poems by George Swede, I found an essay entitled “The Mind of a<\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span> Plagiarist,<\/span>” written by George. Like most of the essays in frogpond<\/em> and<\/font><\/font><\/span> other haiku journals, I had passed it by when the edition originally came<\/span><\/font> my way, intent on enjoying the poetry. When I saw the title of the essay,<\/span><\/font> I figured George was putting on his <\/font>professor and psychologist<\/font><\/a> hats (he<\/font><\/span> teaches Psychology of Art and Creativity, at <\/font><\/span>Ryerson University, in Toronto,<\/font><\/span> and wrote Creativity: A New Psychology<\/em><\/font><\/a><\/span><\/span>). So, I flipped to the end, <\/span><\/font><\/font>which had<\/font><\/span><\/font> the following senryu<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/font>Found: my sunrise haiku
\nwith someone else’s name–
\nthis dawn dark<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

I realized that George was referring to one of the very poems that I had<\/span><\/font><\/font> wanted to spotlight again for Valentine’s Day:<\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

sunrise
\nI forget my side
\nof the argument<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That made return to the beginning of the essay, which read:<\/p>\n

\n

“As a victim of someone who stole over sixty of my haiku<\/em><\/span> and senryu, <\/span>I have tried to understand what occurs in the<\/span> mind of a plagiaris<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/span><\/font>Finally, my highly-tuned lawyer-advocate-investigator mind was engaged and I found myself devouring the Autumn 2005 column <\/span><\/font>Tracks in the Sand<\/em>, a regular feature by George, in Simply Haiku<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/font>journal. That column was entitled “Plagiarism: The Haiku Com<\/a><\/span><\/font>munity Delivers Swift Justice<\/a> (Vol 3:3). The column starts:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Disbelief flooded through me as I read the first paragraph<\/font> of Carol Raisfeld?s email on the morning of June 3, 2005:<\/font><\/p>\n

“Browsing on a poetry site I came across some<\/font> poems I know are yours. . . What I saw was word<\/font> or word George Swede poems.I looked for your<\/font> name, but no credit was given. Can this be? I looked<\/font> at other sites where this ‘poet’s’ work is published . . .<\/font> I’m afraid he has stolen your poems.”<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\"boy<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In detail, George then tells how Irish “artist, cartoonist, illustrator and<\/font><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/font>poet” Adrian Saich<\/a>, under the penname Giles<\/em>, posted 60 Swede poems<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font> and a dozen by other haijin, labelling them as his own and even claiming <\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font>copyright protection for himself. Most of the poems were on <\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/span>The Starlite Cafe<\/font><\/a><\/font><\/font> <\/font><\/span>Poets Corner<\/em>. Others appeared at The Poet’s Castle<\/font><\/a>, George understandably<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span> emotes:<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/font> <\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Particularly galling was the blatant appropriation of each haiku<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span> poet’s poems. All were identified in the following way<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

By Giles<\/font><\/strong>
\n– 2004 Giles (All rights reserved)<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

George, along with his wife Anita Krumins<\/font><\/a>, and <\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span>Robert Wilson of Simply Haiku<\/em>, <\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span>quickly <\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span>alerted the haiku community to this problem, <\/span><\/font><\/span>and so many haijin quickly <\/span><\/font><\/span>directed <\/span><\/font><\/span>email and letters at the manager of Starlite <\/span><\/font><\/span>Cafe, Albert Victor, that:<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

“Victor told me that he had received threatening e-letters from what<\/span><\/font><\/span> he described as my ‘posse’ and was worried about his safety and<\/span><\/font><\/span> that of his family. At one point, he said that he had called the police<\/span><\/font><\/span> who told him there was nothing they could do. To assuage his worries, <\/span><\/font><\/span>I explained to him that he had no reason to be afraid. The poets who<\/span><\/font><\/span> had written to him were gentle souls, just like he was. They were<\/span><\/font><\/span> merely venting their anger at what had happened and would never put<\/span><\/font><\/span> their words into violent actions.<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\"erasingS\" <\/span><\/font><\/span>By June 8, 2005, the plagiarized poems — which had been posted for years – <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font>were taken down from all the offending sites, including Mr. Saich’s. It’s <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font>a great story of collective action and “swift justice,” and I hope you’ll read <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font>the entire column.<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

In his Frogpond<\/em> essay (which is not available online, but is available as a <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

back copy<\/font><\/a>),<\/span><\/font><\/span> George ends by saying:<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

“To insure that plagiarists are detected more quickly, we must become <\/font><\/span>more vigilant and extensive readers of haiku and develop more finely – <\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font>tuned memories of them.”<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\"erasingSF\"<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font> update<\/font><\/strong><\/em> (Feb. 14, 11 AM): Through his email address, I discovered that <\/span><\/font><\/span>the Commentor “Jonathan” has a weblog entitled Plagiarism Today<\/a><\/em>. It <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font>has a lot of information about this subject — he is a webmaster, <\/span><\/font><\/span>not a <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font>lawyer. There is a series that looks particularly helpful:<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Stopping Internet Plagiarism<\/font><\/a> <\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span>
\n <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Although he’s absolutely right about that, I’m afraid that few of us avid readers<\/span><\/font><\/span> of haiku <\/span><\/font><\/span>(many of us over 50) can achieve the scope of reading and acuity of <\/span><\/font><\/span>memory shown by Carol Raisfeld<\/font><\/a>. I suggest that each poet take the time to <\/span><\/font><\/span>do internet searches — through Google or Yahoo! or other search engines — <\/span><\/font><\/span>for each of their poems that might be available for poaching by plagiarists. Using <\/span><\/font><\/span>quote marks around all or part of the text of each poem (should tell you quickly if <\/span><\/font><\/span>it has been <\/span><\/font><\/span>posted anywhere on the internet. If any tech-savvy readers know of an <\/span><\/font><\/span>efficient <\/span><\/font><\/span>way to accomplish this task for a collection of poems, and to repeat it fre<\/span><\/font><\/span>quently, <\/span><\/font><\/span>please let me know. <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n