24/08/2026
CV2 is very sorry to share that a poem we published in our most recent issue, Vol.49.1, the summer 2026 issue, is a work of plagiarism. The piece in question, detailed in the next portion of this statement, plagiarizes the poem “Another Poem About My Father” by Kayla Czaga, which was originally published in 2014 in Kayla’s debut collection of poetry, For Your Safety Please Hold On.
We hereby formally retract the poem titled “Another Poem about My Father”, which appears on page 18 of Vol.49.1 of CV2 Magazine, and which is, on that page, and in the issue’s table of contents, attributed solely to the person who submitted it to us, Kathleen Champoux. The poem we published uses the title, structure, and many near-identical phrases to ones that originated in Kayla’s poem.
Our entire team is sad, sorry, and shocked that we unwittingly published a poem that copied another. We’d like to publicly offer our sincere apologies and heartfelt support to Kayla, whose wellbeing is our top priority during this distressing situation.
There is no way to make this completely right. Out in the world there is now an issue of CV2 that contains work that does not credit its original author, Kayla Czaga. Someone will inevitably pick up the issue, never having seen this notice, nor the retraction we’ll print in our next issue, and will enjoy that poem, unaware that it ought to credit Kayla. That is a devastating reality.
Plagiarism primarily harms the writer whose work gets co-opted in this way – in this case, Kayla. Additionally, it also harms any writer whose work was published alongside the piece in question, as the collection in which their work – in this case many beautiful poems and thoughtful reviews – appears is thereafter, inevitably, somewhat tainted by this situation. Thus, we extend our sympathies to all of the contributors to our summer issue, as well. Our contributors entrust CV2 with their work, and in this instance, it’s hard not to feel that we’ve let them and our readers down. We take some solace in knowing that our community will help us redirect the energy generated by this situation toward uplifting Kayla and her work, as well as the work of all the other writers in this issue, whose writing we are so proud to get to share.
This is a first for the team running CV2, and we hope to navigate the situation as best we can, with the help of our community. To the folks who noticed the similarities in the poems and brought this to our attention, we sincerely thank you. We count ourselves fortunate to have been called in so quickly by our readership, a quickness that not only displays how closely folks read the magazine, but also how much Kayla’s original poem must have impacted them, to have been so readily recognizable in the form in which it appeared in CV2. May we all take a little comfort from that, as well.
Kayla has been unbelievably gracious as we’ve navigated this situation alongside her, and we want to offer her our gratitude for allowing us the chance to take steps toward restorative action in this matter. This statement is one of the first of those steps, and directing as many people as possible to Kayla’s work will be another. To this end, we’ve linked Kayla’s website, as well as her poem, below, and on our website. We hope that, if you have a moment, you’ll go and engage with this stunning piece of writing of Kayla’s, and that you’ll appreciate all the time, effort, skill, and emotion that went into crafting it, as you do so.
Plagiarism is a community issue. With this in mind, we’d like to leave you with the words of Sara Ahmed, who writes about a feminist politics of citation in Living a Feminist Life:
“Citation is feminist memory. Citation is how we acknowledge our debt to those who came before; those who helped us find our way when the way was obscured, because we deviated from the paths we were told to follow.”
Thank you for reading. Thank you for treating this situation with care, and those involved like the fellow flawed humans we all are. Thank you for supporting CV2, and for helping us as we endeavour to support Kayla Czaga, to uplift all of our contributors, and to always do better than we’ve done in the past.
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In email correspondence with CV2, Kathleen Champoux acknowledged that this poem ought to have credited Kayla Czaga, and she apologized for what she says was a "horrible mistake."
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Kayla's poem:
https://michaeldennispoet.blogspot.com/2014/12/for-your-safety-please-hold-on-kayla.html?m=1
Kayla's website:
https://kaylaczaga.com/
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ID: Two text graphics with black backgrounds, beige text, and small lines ending with small circles framing the text. The text in the images is the same as the first two paragraphs of the above statement.
