I'm afraid that Janice is quite right, Graham. Putting a (c) on does not mean anything in itself. Copyright theoretically exists automatically as soon as a work is created, but you need to be able to a) prove that it is your work and b) that it was created on a particular date if you are going to challenge anyone for unauthorised use. Various websites exist that you can upload your work onto for this purpose, but naturally they charge a fee for you to do so. I wouldn't bother.

Hic Jacet Wendy Cope

Abandon hope
all ye who'd copy Wendy Cope.
It's not as easy as it looks
to sell so many poetry books.

RIP-off

I lie here in a pauper's grave
Because the World Wide Web that gave
So much to many pillories
A poet's hard-earned royalties.

I don't think Wendy, bless her, will lie in a pauper's grave.

Quite-so, John; how about this -


RIP-off

I lie here in a lesser grave
Because the World Wide Web that gave
So much to many pillories
A poet's hard-earned royalties.


- then?

Perhaps some Spherians are unfamiliar with Wendy Cope and her oeuvre and wouldn't appreciate why she feels so proprietorial. I propose that we start another thread reproducing some of her better poems (or perhaps even all of them?) so that we can see for ourselves and make an informed judgement.

If they are unfamiliar with Wendy Cope's work then they shouldn't be Spherians. And if anybody reproduces her work without her say-so then that body will be truly sorry. Nobody mixes it with Wendy I do assure you.

Joke, John!

I didn't find her grumpy at all. When I wanted to include three of her poems in an anthology, I wrote to explain the size of the operation and the unlikelihood that it would make any money. I offered a share in the event that the book did earn money (it never did) and may have offered a token upfront payment in addition; if so, it wasn't much. Ms. Cope graciously accepted the offer, support without which the book would have been much poorer.

Saint Wendy is of course merely trying to earn a living. We do not consider musicians or filmmakers to be 'grumpy' if they protest about their hard work being pirated and their audience no longer wanting or needing to buy cinema tickets, DVDs or CDs. The analogy, I would venture, is exact. By their very nature poems are the easiest art form of all to rip off, and for that reason there's probably not much that Wendy (or any of the rest of us) can really do, but I think she's perfectly entitled not to like it and to say so.

It's interesting to note, don't you think, that other poets' work is reproduced here on D & A every time the results of competitions are announced, and always without their permission. Sometimes we're less than complimentary about it, too (I know I have been). We seem to think that's all right. Perhaps it isn't? Discuss.