in the corridors of academe

Twenty years ago I wrote a poem as a tribute to The Simpsons cartoon. My poem was published several times to modest acclaim. A revised version was published on The Heelers Diaries in 1998 and has been repeated here on odd occasions since then. The poem ran as follows...

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On First Looking Into Groening's Homer

by James Healy

Much have I wandered on television's roads

Many cowboy and detective serials and sitcoms have I seen

Round many reruns of Magnum have I been

Which the networks in fealty to Aaron Spelling Productions hold

But never did I breathe the pure serene

Until Matt Groening began merchandising The Simpsons loud and bold.

Then felt I like some watcher of Desperate Housewives

When a new piece of salacious titillation swims into his ken

Or like stout Eastwood when with eagle eyes

He looked at a street punk with a wild surmise

And shot him over and over again.

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In April of 2010 a poem with the same title as my own appeared on an internet site called The Chronicle. The poem ran as follows...

On First Looking Into Groening's Homer

By Garry Breland

Oft I surfed the channels bored to death

And many informercials did I pass -

Through Mash and Taxi reruns in a flash

And talking heads who ranted out of breath

I'd heard about Matt Groening and his art.

Curious I found The Simpsons show,

Where first I heard his Homer utter "D'oh!"

And thought I'd found our culture's lowest part.

Should I call and cancel cable service?

Luddite ways adopt forever more?

No, that would only serve to prove me churlish.

Better to be a beacon on this shore -

Like Derrida, I'll look beneath the surface

For what this vox populi might have in store.

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On discovering this piece of work, I wrote to Garry Breland at his published email address garry.breland@wmcarey.edu

My missive ran:

"Hey Garry.

I have just read your rather fine poem entitled On First Looking Into Groening's Homer. It bears some interesting similarities to a rather fine poem I wrote twenty years ago entitled On First Looking Into Groening's Homer.

Coincidence?

James Healy"

Mr Breland did not reply.

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Next I contacted The Chronicle website directly...

From: James Healy

To: The Editor, The Chronicle           October 2010.

Sir.

You recently published a very fine poem attributed to one Gary Breland under the title "On First Looking Into Groening's Homer."

This poem bears a remarkable similarity to a poem of my own entitled "On First Looking Into Groening's Homer," which was first published in 1991 and last published on The Heelers Diaries in 2008.

What say you?

James Healy

From: The Editor, The Chronicle

To: James Healy

I have looked on our site for an author with the name you mention and can find no trace of him.

Regards.

The Editor

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Due to a certain weariness with the vicissitudes of life I took a break from this effervescent correspondence for two months before resuming thusly...

On Nov 26, 2010, at 3:37 AM, James Healy wrote:

For the attention of: Lawrence Biemiller, Editor, The Chronicle.

                                    

Dear Lawrence.

You have published a poem entitled "On First Looking Into Groening's Homer" on your internet site The Chronicle. The poem you have published bears a remarkable similarity to a poem of mine entitled "On First Looking Into Groening's Homer."

My own poem was written in 1991 and published several times since then.

The poem you published was purportedly written by one Gary Breland.

I have contacted The Chronicle about this matter once before and the response was frivolous.

The next contact from me will be through lawyers.

James Healy
Editor The Heelers Diaries

A reply was furnished as follows.
----- Original Message -----

From: Lawrence Biemiller

To: James Healy

Sent: Friday, November 26, 2010 4:20 PM

Subject: Re: dear lawrence

Hi Mr. Healy,

The poem we published was part of a poetry contest in which we sought entries inspired by "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer" (you can read about the contest at http://chronicle.com/blogs/poetry-month/the-chronicles-national-poetry-month-poetry-contest-explained/22226). As you might anticipate (though I did not), this challenge inspired a number of quite direct imitations of the original, not only Mr. Breland's but also "On Last Looking Into Groening's Homer," "On Last Looking at a Student's Paper," "On Looking Into Norton's Keats," "First Thoughts Provoked by 'On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer,'" "On First Looking Into Hubble's Universe," and so forth and so on. You can read them all on our poetry-month blog. I particularly recommend the winning poem, which you can read about on http://chronicle.com/blogs/poetry-month/alyson-ark-iott-wins-the-chronicles-poetry-month-contest/23430

As for similarities between your poem, which I've looked up, and Mr. Breland's, it seems to me that they do not extend much beyond the title and the underlying idea, and both of those seem to me to be pretty likely to occur to any "Simpsons" fan presented with a challenge like the one we offered. Of course, I'm not a lawyer. Had your poem mentioned Derrida, or had Mr. Breland's mentioned "stout Eastwood"—which I love—I'd be a lot more concerned. As it is, my guess is that you're looking at a great-minds-think-alike coincidence here, not plagiarism.

Have a good weekend.

-- Lawrence Biemiller
Senior Writer
The Chronicle of Higher Education
1255 Twenty-third Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20037
lawrence.biemiller@chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/architecture

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And now the readers will decide. Our light hearted comic stylings belong to the ages...

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