Imitation is the greatest form of flattery????

They say that "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery"... well, I beg to differ. I think, in some cases, it can be a HUGE INSULT.

I am a poet. I have been writing poetry since I was in ninth grade (2004, I believe... maybe. I think.) and it has always been a part of my soul. If you read my signature, you can see that I'm very passionate about poetry.

"Poetry is an echo, waiting for a shadow to dance" -Carl Sandburg

"Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn." -Thomas Gray

"Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted." -Percy Bysshe Shelley

"Poetry is when an emotion as found its thought and the thought has found words."
-Robert Frost

These quotes were taken from the back of a book that i just bought at Borders. It's called The Best Poems of the English Language with Commentary and Selection by Alissa Heyman. It's an excellent book of poetry and I highly reccommend it.

But I digress. The reason I used these quotes in this blog is because I absolutely 100% believe in them. Especially the one by Robert Frost. It perfectly explains the natural way that I write poetry. It's like I was born to write poetry. I'm an excellent poet, and my poems are usually deep and have meaning, whether it's hidden or screamingly obvious.... and I'm modest, too! lol.

When I write my poetry, I take it absolutely seriously. It's a part of my heart and soul on paper. It's not to be tampered with. There was once a time when I would have shown copies of my poems to anyone and everyone who would take the time to read it. Those days are unfortunately over.

If you've read some of my blogs before, you might know that I tend to hold grudges. This blog is an example of just that.

In ninth grade, right around the time I started writing the poems, I had befriended someone who was in seventh grade. She, too, was into poetry. I was excited to have found a friend with the same interests as me, so naturally I showed her my poems. At the end of the year, she asked for copies of them. Gladly, and without a second thought or hesistation, I gave them. As soon as they left my hand, I wished I hadn't given them up. I had a funny feeling about it.

Much later, one of my other friends came across her Myspace page and saw a blog of hers. Something about the title intrigue her and was vaguely familiar. As soon as she read the blog, she knew why. It was my poem. But there was something wrong. Nowhere in the blog did it say "by Kaitlyn Gates" or the date, as I usually mark my poems with. She immediately messaged me about it on my Myspace, and I had to see it for myself.

There it was. My soul, in someone else's blog, for everyone to see. People who had commented on it had thought the blog and the poem was of her doing, when i knew it certainly was not! I was hurt. There was my soul, displayed for all to see, yet instead of my face being associated with it, a stranger's face was there. A stranger whom I thought I knew. I thought she was better than that.

I of course confronted the thief about it, and told her I could no longer trust her with anything from that point further. Yes, maybe I was being a little dramatic, but I don't think you'd understand. This is my SOUL on paper. To me, it was like having my picture taken with a celebrity, but my face was cut out and someone else's face was there. Something to that extent. It was me, but everyone thought it was someone else. It hurt me that anyone could even think that this imposter could compose such wonderful poetry. This terrible person was ruining my reputation by trying to save her own reputation.

Needless to say, I have been very hesitant to post any poems of any kind on the internet since then. i won't even give my friends copies of my poems anymore. if I show anyone my poems, I either literally show them in person, or I dictate my poem to them. I have some of my own poems memorized, but I've written so many, I haven't memorzed them all. Sometimes i'll open a Word document and start typing, and I'll save what I have. Then I'll go back and check my documents and see this document that i don't recognize, so I open it. I read it, and I think "I don't remember writing that! This is really good! I only vaguely remember this!" and I'll finish it.

Well I've decided that I'm not giving out any more of my poems until they are properly published in a book of poems. I know that one does not get published overnight, but if it takes me my whole life to get my poems properly published so that I, exclusively, have the rights to them... then so be it! I'll make a note of it in my will.

I don't want anyone else to steal my very soul from me. In the aforementioned case, imitation and plagiarism was a huge insult to me. I trusted someone with something dear to my heart, and they completely broke my trust. It was a mistake on my part, but thankfully, I've learned from my mistake. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." I will not be fooled twice.

I guess you could say I'm a control freak when it comes to my poems. Obsessive compulsive? Definately.

And for this reason, I want to become an accomplished author. I'll probably use my initials as a pseudonym, like J.K. Rowling or T.S. Eliot or J.R.R. Tolkien...

Well, if ever in the near or far future, you see a book of poems or something else published by a K.A. Gates, that would be me... unless I get published after I get married. Then i'll use my married name, I suppose.

I am intently fixed on becoming a published author. Only then will I be less paranoid. I'll have rights to my poems, and everyone will associate my poems with my own face. And most importantly, I'll hopefully invoke in others the same passion for poetry that i have in myself. Hopefully, my poetry will inspire people, and people will say "Wow, I can relate to that."

I've been to a few poetry slams... Speaking of which, I think I missed the most recent one. That saddens me. But other than that, I don't usually show my poems to anyone. I've had two poems published in my school's literary magazine so far: one for each year. I'm excited to see if the tradition will hold through to this year as well. That would be amazing.

If my inhibitions weren't so tightly knit about me, I'd have all fifty-plus poems on the Creative Writing site, but since I have trouble trusting people with my poems, I refuse to let them get that kind of exposure unless they've already been published. It makes me sad that someone would do such a thing so treacherous as going behind someone's back and stealing their soul. Living proof that the Devil lives among us, I guess; and unfortunately, he's not bargaining for your soul anymore. He's resorted to stealing it rather than buying it from you.

So now I beg of you all... if you're going to quote someone, please give them due credit for it. If you're going to use someone else's mind, make sure you praise them for it by attatching their name to it. Don't assume that they'll be flattered that you copied them. that phrase, "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery" just doesn't apply to some people. If it applied to all people, we wouldn't have copyright laws and penalties for plagiarism. it's not just an insult, it's a crime. Be smart, give credit when it's due.

Thanks for listening. Now, it being 1:30am, I'm going to bed... hopefully this blog will be better than last night's blog.