Bookslut links to a story about the origin of the “Footprints” poem that’s absolutely everywhere. There are a number of people who are claiming to have written the poem, and most of them want royalties.

Although several people have suggested to Webb, as consolation, that God gave the idea to multiple authors in order to more efficiently spread His Word, Webb is unsettled by the idea that “the Lord would be the author of confusion.” However the verse came into being, its message has reached all over the world. “Footprints” is the kind of poem we all seem to know without remembering when or where we first saw it. We’ve read it dozens of times, never paying attention. The verse is dislocated from context, so familiar and predictable that the boundary between writing and reading seems to disappear.

Be sure to read the comments to the Poetry Foundation story, too, as one woman, Carolyn Joyce Carty, claims to have written “Footprints” and also the lyrics to the poem she calls “In My Life I Loved You More,” which was callously stolen by The Beatles.

If you’re as fascinated by this as I am, NPR also has a story about the lawsuits that are brewing over the poem. And then there’s this classic Onion take on the whole thing.