Publishers and magazines have been working to take down poems and suspend sales of collections by David R Morgan after the American poet Charles O Hartman realised Morgan's poem "Dead Wife Singing" was almost identical to his own, three-decades-old "A Little Song".Apparently Mr. Morgan both "lifted lines and phrases from a host of different writers" and copied poems wholesale. The plagiarism was discovered and investigated by members of the on-line poetry community. The charge was led by Ira Lightman, a British poet and professor at Northumbria University.
Mr. Morgan has admitted his wrongdoing and apologized:
Morgan has admitted fully to the plagiarism, and told the Guardian he was "so very ashamed and regret hurting people by my stupidity". He said he was "truly sorry to everyone whose thoughts and work I have taken", and vowed to never do it again.
For further reading:
Teleread has an article
iThenticate also has an article (scroll down to #6)
