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But in the same pile was another fascinating document - a deposition by a Moore cousin that talked about Moore's story of how he wrote the poem. Maria O'Conor's father was the son-in-law of Moore's wife's sister. Her father had talked to Moore about his writing of the poem, and then had told Maria that story. Most of the story is one that we know. Moore claimed to have gone out for a turkey, been inspired by a rotund Dutchman, and composed a complicated 56 line poem in his head and come home to write it down verbatim - the explanation of why no original existed with Moore's corrections as he composed.