Summary

An article reflects on the cyclical nature of creativity and theft, focusing on the theft and parodying of poems, particularly "This is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams, and the impermanence of digital content as exemplified by the loss of Gawker's archives.

Abstract

The article "A Perfidious Pilferer OF Peaches Returns" discusses the repetitive cycle where poets write and die, their work is parodied by the public, and then a scoundrel steals these parodies, visualizing them through word clouds. It highlights the eternal nature of such a scoundrel and the fleeting existence of digital content, as seen with the demise of Gawker and the loss of its archived comments. The author laments the disappearance of parodies by individuals like Bruce Baugh and others from MakingLight and Jezebel, and the inability to preserve these creative works. The article concludes with a successful retrieval of some parodies by Earl Cooley III from the Internet Archive, acknowledging their quality, and ends with a playlist provided by the Hitmagist.

Opinions

The author views the cycle of creation, parody, and theft as a "great circle of Wickedness."
The author expresses a sense of loss and regret over the disappearance of creative works, particularly the parodies of William Carlos Williams' poem "This is Just to Say."
There is a clear disdain for the use of word clouds as a form of visualization, considering it the "cheapest and most useless form."
The author sarcastically refers to the scoundrel's actions as eternal and unchanging, yet ironically praises the scoundrel for being a "great guy."
The article suggests that the digital age is precarious for the preservation of art and commentary, with platforms like Gawker and their content being lost.
The author acknowledges the poetic spirit in everyone, even in the context of a disturbing incident where a woman attacks her partner over eaten food.
The author appreciates the quality of Earl Cooley III's parodies, suggesting they are superior to many others and almost a shame to steal.
The article concludes on a lighter note by providing a playlist, indicating a desire to engage with the audience and provide a multimedia experience.

A Perfidious Pilferer OF Peaches Returns

Again the great circle of Wickedness plays out —

The Poets write the poems

The Poets die

The people parody the poems

The people don’t die, yet.

The Scoundrel steals the poems and wordclouds them — the cheapest and most useless form ov visualization there is.

And the scoundrel is eternal.

Sorry people.

Link to Original Tweet because Twitter can no longer reliably handle embeds

The Scoundrel did it, he admits it, he stole some this is just to say parodies from Gawker — and are they still there?!?

Gawker, huh whatever happened to that site.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawker

Gawker’s publication of a sex tape featuring Hulk Hogan led Hogan to sue the company for invasion of privacy. Hogan received financial support from billionaire investor Peter Thiel, who had been outed by Gawker against his wishes. On June 10, 2016, Gawker filed for bankruptcy after being ordered to pay Hogan $140 million in damages.

Wow. So that’s why the phrase shower of arseholes was invented!!

The original link is saved in the Internet Archive

'Voice' Loses Lawsuit

Village Voice Media owes the San Francisco Bay-Guardian $15.6 million damages for predatory probing. Trying to put…

web.archive.org

unfortunately I am assuming whatever parodies where there came in the comments section, of which there were 14 “replies”.

Fancy! Gawker’s comments were replies.

Bruce Baugh, another MakingLight regular — but the url has not been archived

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/commentlist-oneauthor.php?commentid=408932&showall=true

OH NO — but if you leave the showall = true off you do get some archiving

Since the original Scoundrel was in 2013 — I’ll just check what I can get there — but nothing, no Mr. Baugh’s This is Just to Say Parodies are gone from the world,. removed from history, gone like Aristotle’s Guide to Making Monks Laugh, Socrates’ Big Book of Wisdom, and The Scoundrel’s So Sorry It’s Making Me Sad, an epic poem written on a Mobius Strip in Acme Disappearing/Reappearing Ink.

I’m guessing Bruce Baugh is this guy anyway

Bruce Baugh, Author at Reactor

Answering Your Questions About Reactor: Right here.

reactormag.com

I wonder if he cares that his This is Just To Say had to end with a This is Just to Say Bye-Bye.

Does he have them saved anywhere — is the great artwork of the Scoundrel preserved above really the only thing that is left!?!?

I guess I’m going to have to ask him these things, because also I, The Scoundrel Who Steals Fruit and Apologizes Insincerely, deserve to know — mainly because I’m such a great guy!

More From MakingLight — this time from “Mike”

Really believable name “Mike” I bet lots of people are called that. Great stuff.

What Does Archive.org say — well same problem as Bruce Baugh — not all comments archived but what about the last 20 comments in 2013

Making Light comments by Mike

Edit description

web.archive.org

And the same problem! “Mike” — the fruits of your labor were stolen by the scoundrel, and now nothing in this world remains of them but this image

It is hard for me to express how sorry I am about all this, so I guess I won’t even try

And what does Jezebel have to say when asked for its delicious parodies?

And do they have anything at archive.org?

Don't fuck with this woman's food. After discovering that her boyfriend of five years had eaten the

Don't fuck with this woman's food. After discovering that her boyfriend of five years had eaten the pork chops she'd…

web.archive.org

Yes, but once again it looks like the parodies were all in the content. Also this is a very disturbing article about a women who, finding her pork chops had been eaten by her poor innocent husband that I am sure left her the nicest note imaginable, attacked him and stabbed him with a fork shouting “Eat my Pork, Feel my Fork” which I guess just goes to show every human being has a little bit of the poetic spirit in their bosom.

Oh No, another MakingLight user — Earl Cooley III — with parodies — but is it on Archive.org this time?

Making Light comments by Earl Cooley III

Edit description

web.archive.org

Yes, we have a great success!

The parodies — as found:

This is just to say

I have looted the tomatoes which you grew upside down

and which you were probably hoarding against starvation.

Forgive me, it’s the apocalypse and I was hungry.

And

this is just to say I have eaten green pizza which it was spinachy alfredoesque hot and delicious without otherwise well deserved feelings of guilt because spinach is good for you as is effectively rationalized by the heroic example of popeye the sailor man

And

This is just to say

I have borrowed the woo that was in your beliefs

and which you were probably saving for Heaven

Forgive me there are trusting souls to fleece and deceive

And

This is just to say I have recycled the statues that were cluttering your city and which you were probably saving for posterity Forgive me Ozymandias mighty king of kings

Ok, even your cynical scoundrel must admit those were a tad better than a lot of the this is just to says out there, almost seems a shame to steal them and wordcloud them, the most useless and trivial bit of visualization that was ever invented!

I guess it’s probably this guy

Earl Cooley III on about.me

I am a Poet in Universal City, Texas. Hire me.

about.me

If you need to hire somebody to make deliciously cold this is just to say parodies for the scoundrel to steal you could do a lot worse than this guy!

As always the Hitmagist has been nice enough to provide a playlist for this outing of the scoundrel — play along to get along