So I sent out a bunch of emails, Facebook messages & Tweets inviting people to participate in my klepto-collaborative poetry project for TEDxYouth@TheWoodlands. (You’re all invited, by the way, so send me your words/images/video by midnight tonight!)
An acquaintance who’s both a writer and an attorney sent me a message last night in reply to my invite and it was marked urgent. When I saw the little red check next to his message in my inbox I thought, Wow, he must be really excited by my project – and/or with his words and ideas – to consider his response worthy of the Danger, Will Robinson!-esque distinction.
Well, he was excited, but his email didn’t hold any word offerings for the poem. What I found inside was indeed a Danger, Will Robinson! hands-waving brand of warning. He’d read the klepto-collaborative poems and excerpts here on my blog and was alight with how “inventive and original” he thought them. But, he cautioned, “You really need to get a patent of some kind on that form of poem so somebody else doesn’t take credit for your idea. Especially given that you’re Tweeting and Facebooking about it. I mean, anybody could steal your idea and run with it.”
At which point I began spewing SILK chocolate soy milk onto my computer screen. Because, hello, the very essence of a klepto-collaborative poem is, well, STEALING. Being warned about a swarm of nefarious potential somebodies out there in the world just waiting to pounce and poetry-form jack me is absolutely guffaw-and-silly-giggle-inducing. I adore this guy’s well-meaning and protective intentions, I do. But, lordy, having someone steal your poetry process of kleptoing other peoples words and pharases is about as meta as it gets :0)
Beyond that, nothing would thrill me more than having anybody and everybody lifting text willy-nilly, right and left, to use in their very own klepto-collaborative poems. So, y’all, in case I haven’t said this already – though I’m pretty darn sure I have – please, steal my klepto-collaborative poetry form to your word-lovin’ hearts’ content. Nothing would make me happier, I double-dog swear.
Details and more examples can be found in the post How To Steal Your Way To A Stellar Poem.
PS, wasn’t Lost In Space the best?
PPS, aren’t patents about rights to ideas that are going to make money? Poetry = $ = even more silly giggles & guffawing
PPSS, my writer-lawyer acquaintance gave me permission to share this story, so don’t worry, I’m not telling on him in a blog-gossipy kind of way. He asked me not to name him, though ;)
Last but not least, I always thought it would be cool to name a dog Double, just so I could holler Double Dog, I swear! whenever he rankled me with his ways.
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