After reading the postings on this site concerning poetry.com, I have decided to write a letter to remove my poems from their site.in that way, I will have some peace of mind in the matter that they hopefully won't try anything as stupid as using my own poems to their gain. Anyone who has submitted any poetry to this bogus site, do your self a favor and get the originals notarized. That way, if your poems do show up on another site, in a book or publication that you have no knowledge of, you have the originals, signed and notarized, to prove that they are yours and not the creative endeavours of others.
I recently got another of the letters saying I was a semi-finalist in their "contest." That made 2 poems I had entered that were going to be in a book called "Eternal Portraits." Now, in an interesting turn of events, my fiancee asked the local library if they carried any of the previous books from poetry.com, aka the international library of poetry. To her surprise, and to mine, they did not have any, and they had never heard of them. Right there, red flags and flashing lights. Oh, one other little piece of information. Before I got my second letter saying I was getting my other poem in "Eternal Portraits, "
I got a letter saying that my first poem was going to be on a CD where it was to be read, along with many other poems. The "special price" escapes me at the moment, but like a fool, I initialed the permission slip and sent it back. It was shortly after that I decided to get my poetry and all my writings to date notarized. I will be damned if anyone, other than myself, will have the satisfaction of saying they wrote MY poems.
Consider this a heads up. It will cost you a bit, but it is a small price to have your stuff notarized than to see it in a publication with someone else's name under it, giving them the credit. It is what I have done, and will continue to do. Keep your writings as your own... Get them notarized, and write to this "glorious" site and tell them to remove your poems.
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