Illegal to Reprint Poetry on the Internet

I had planned to reprint the words to Julia Alvarez's poem, "Love Portions," as a part of this post. When I used google to look up "Julia Alvarez," I discovered this website and spent some time learning a little more about the author. I also read this statement: "If you need to get in touch with me about setting up an appearance or an interview or to obtain permissions for reproducing my work, please contact my agent, Susan."

I sent Susan Bergholz an e-mail requesting permission to reprint the poem as part of my blog post and received a response indicating that permission could not be granted. She explained, "I am afraid we cannot grant it as we do not allow posting of author's original work on the internet; it interferes with our ability to license that work. If you have seen any of Julia's writing on the internet, it is without our permission and is therefore illegal."

I had provided a link to another website that reprinted the poem, but I have removed that link and provided this message in its place: "[It is illegal to reprint the words to Ms. Alvarez's poem on the internet, but those words are what I read at this point in my reading.]"

I discovered Ms. Alvarez's poem in a text called Love Poetry Out Loud (Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2007).