Plagiarism? Not me!

When asked to write a poem, my mind usually fills with words and rhyme which walks along a path to my point. Call it an off day or even a brain freeze, but I couldn't write a single word. Pressed with a deadline, I made the decision to use a piece I wrote my sophomore year. This piece was written in a particular style which resembled another writer. I have kept all my writings, and in this case, I even kept this authors poem. The problem came when I turned in my poem. After school I was grabbed by my classmate and asked if the poem I handed in was mine. "Yes" I said. She asked again, " Did you really write that, really?" "YES" I said again. My classmate said frantically "You better go talk to [teacher], she's about to go to the board and have plagiarism put on your permanent record." WHAT! I ran into her class and asked what in the world she would do that for. She showed me my paper and my heart sunk. I had turned in the author's poem with mine and the pages must have gotten separated. Lucky for me, my teacher understood. We found my poem and she was relieved, too. She said this was very unlike me and she didn't want to address the board either. Evidently, we have a zero tolerance for plagiarism. Perhaps I'll work a little harder at coming up with new poems...but that's High School.