Pilfering Poetry Poem by Michael Pruchnicki

She seemed surprised when I told her
that signing your name to someone else's
work is frowned upon by those of us
who may pilfer a thought or disguise
a line once in a great while, you see?

You know it's only when inspiration
stalls and shudders to a screeching halt
when the imagination shuts down
and words fail, I told her,
but you don't swipe a whole poem!

Why not google examples of the villanelle,
I smirked, that will keep you busy for weeks,
and in the end, perhaps you will succeed!
Just don't copy a poem word for word!