Is World Poetry Collective selling an AI book of poetry with a fraudulent backstory?

Discussion

I wanted to ask for your takes on something they've had going for the past week.

They've published a book by a supposed 84 year-old named "Wilson", called "Wilson's Revenge", who wants to remain anonymous. I saw a couple discrepancies in how they're hustling this: they said he was 84 and then they clarified he IS 84 now. Some posts say he spent a lifetime writing these poems; other posts say he only began writing recently after living a full life. I asked for a clarification on that second one and received crickets.

I really do not want to wrongly accuse some octogenarian out there, but the weirdness surrounding the backstory and the actual poems has to make ask:

Does anyone else think it's possible WPC used AI and created this mysterious story to sell some books?

All the poems have the same tone, feeling, and line of thought. There is no variation whatsoever, which I would expect there to be regardless of whether he really began writing recently or over a lifetime. But if the latter I would definitely expect there to be some differences in writing style. There is also a detachment from the world that you only get from AI. I don't want to get into the other specific giveaways so that they can perfect their game, but I'd love everyone's thoughts.

Update: I asked them on their latest post to provide proof this person exists and wrote these poems. They deleted the comment within minutes!

I am guessing this isn't illegal, but this should really be publicized.

Posted Jul 13, 2026, 4:36 PM UTC

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