A few months ago, we posted some poems from Robby Braithwaite, a sixth grader from Brookside Elementry in Worthington, OH.

Soon after, we received a letter from a lawyer representing spoken word legend David Covington. The lawyer cited the poetry posted on our site was plagerized material from Covington's 1983 release, Iambic Pontifications.

We located a copy of Pontifications and were embarrased by what we heard: Robby's poetry and Covington's tracks were perfect matches.

When we asked him about this concidence, Robby swore he wrote them. After
several noogies, indian burns, and threats of no TV for a month, his story didn't change. We believed him.

We removed the poems from the site to get the lawyer off our back, but the matter wasn't forgotten. Several man-hour later, we learned the truth. Even though I still don't understand it fully, I'll do my best to explain...

David Covington was a substitue teacher for Brookside when Robby's class was finishing their poetry assignment. Covington found Robby's poems genius, breaking nearly every rule in structure and cadence, even inventing new ones. A struggling poet/singer/songwriter himself, Covington saw spoken-word gold in Robby's lines, and wanted them for his own.

Based on the Harrison Ford movies of the late seventies and early eighties, Robby's subject matter was a little dated. The poems, themselves, would turn the poetry community on its ear, but to shake it to its foundation, they needed to be more topical.

Covington dusted off his time machine and traveled back to the Summer of 1983. He recorded Iambic Pontifications with Mike Roth, the Rick Rubin of spoken word albums. The record was a smash hit, just as he expected. In the fall, he toured the US and Scandinavia then returned to the Fall of 2003. But to everyone else, he simply disappeared. This elevated him to a J.D. Salinger level among the poetry sect.

After obtaining the evidence we needed, a meeting was arranged with Covington and his lawyer to set things right. Even though it brought up several more questions, Covington conceeded that he did travel back in time with Robby's poetry.

So now the copywrites are being transferred to Robby's name and Covington has begun paying Robby the residuals he received from record sales.

Yap Yap Records, B Minus' sister label, will reissue the Iambic Pontification with Robby's name, original title (Movies), and artwork.Robby doesn't have any interest in re-recording it, so we'll keep the Covington's recordings.

I hear he needs the money.