diff --git a/poethepoet/config.py b/poethepoet/config.py
index c859a5942..6826a9358 100644
--- a/poethepoet/config.py
+++ b/poethepoet/config.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 from typing import (
     Any,
+    Dict,
     Iterator,
     List,
     Mapping,
@@ -280,9 +281,7 @@ def __init__(
             Path().resolve() if cwd is None else Path(cwd)
         )
         self._project_config = ProjectConfig(
-            {"tool.poe": table or {}},
-            path=self._project_dir.joinpath(config_name),
-            strict=False,
+            {"tool.poe": table or {}}, path=self._project_dir, strict=False
         )
         self._included_config = []
 
@@ -322,7 +321,7 @@ def task_names(self) -> Iterator[str]:
         yield from result
 
     @property
-    def tasks(self) -> Mapping[str, Any]:
+    def tasks(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         result = dict(self._project_config.get("tasks", {}))
         for config in self._included_config:
             for task_name, task_def in config.get("tasks", {}).items():
@@ -356,7 +355,7 @@ def verbosity(self) -> int:
 
     @property
     def is_poetry_project(self) -> bool:
-        return "poetry" in self._project_config.full_config
+        return "poetry" in self._project_config.full_config.get("tool", {})
 
     @property
     def project_dir(self) -> Path:
diff --git a/poethepoet/plugin.py b/poethepoet/plugin.py
index 18d5a7bcd..a3dd0663f 100644
--- a/poethepoet/plugin.py
+++ b/poethepoet/plugin.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Any, Dict, List
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Dict, List
 
 from cleo.commands.command import Command
 from cleo.events.console_command_event import ConsoleCommandEvent
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@
 
 from .exceptions import PoePluginException
 
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from .config import PoeConfig
+
 
 class PoeCommand(Command):
     prefix: str
@@ -87,7 +90,7 @@ def activate(self, application: Application) -> None:
 
             debug = bool(int(os.environ.get("DEBUG_POE_PLUGIN", "0")))
             print(
-                "error: poethepoet plugin failed to activate."
+                "error: poethepoet plugin encountered an error."
                 + ("" if debug else " Set DEBUG_POE_PLUGIN=1 for details."),
                 file=sys.stderr,
             )
@@ -104,10 +107,10 @@ def _activate(self, application: Application) -> None:
             # If there's no pyproject.toml then probably that's OK, don't freak out
             return
 
-        command_prefix = poe_config.get("poetry_command", "poe").strip()
+        command_prefix = poe_config._project_config.get("poetry_command").strip()
         PoeCommand.command_prefix = command_prefix
 
-        poe_tasks = poe_config.get("tasks", {})
+        poe_tasks = poe_config.tasks
         self._validate_command_prefix(command_prefix)
 
         if command_prefix in COMMANDS:
@@ -141,33 +144,22 @@ def _activate(self, application: Application) -> None:
         self._monkey_patch_cleo(command_prefix, list(poe_tasks.keys()))
 
         self._register_command_event_handler(
-            application, poe_config.get("poetry_hooks", {})
+            application, poe_config._project_config.get("poetry_hooks", {})
         )
 
     @classmethod
-    def _get_config(cls, application: Application) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+    def _get_config(cls, application: Application) -> "PoeConfig":
+        from .config import PoeConfig
+
+        # Try respect poetry's '--directory' if set
         try:
-            pyproject = application.poetry.pyproject.data
-        except:  # noqa: E722
-            # Fallback to loading the config again in case of future failure of the
-            # above undocumented API
-            import tomlkit
-
-            from .config import PoeConfig
-
-            # Try respect poetry's '--directory' if set
-            try:
-                pyproject_path = Path(application.poetry.pyproject_path)
-            except AttributeError:
-                pyproject_path = None
-
-            pyproject = tomlkit.loads(
-                Path(
-                    PoeConfig().find_config_file(target_path=pyproject_path)
-                ).read_text()
-            )
+            pyproject_dir = application.poetry.pyproject_path.parent
+        except AttributeError:
+            pyproject_dir = None
 
-        return pyproject.get("tool", {}).get("poe", {})
+        poe_config = PoeConfig(cwd=pyproject_dir)
+        poe_config.load(strict=False)
+        return poe_config
 
     def _validate_command_prefix(self, command_prefix: str):
         if command_prefix and not command_prefix.isalnum():
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/poetry_plugin_project/empty_prefix/pyproject.toml b/tests/fixtures/poetry_plugin_project/empty_prefix/pyproject.toml
index 3d1cab9dc..1fb81f6fd 100644
--- a/tests/fixtures/poetry_plugin_project/empty_prefix/pyproject.toml
+++ b/tests/fixtures/poetry_plugin_project/empty_prefix/pyproject.toml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ poe_test_helpers = { path = "../../packages/poe_test_helpers" }
 
 [tool.poe]
 poetry_command = ""
+include = "tasks.toml"
 
 [tool.poe.tasks]
 echo = { cmd = "poe_test_echo", help = "It's like echo"}
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/poetry_plugin_project/empty_prefix/tasks.toml b/tests/fixtures/poetry_plugin_project/empty_prefix/tasks.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c34197126
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fixtures/poetry_plugin_project/empty_prefix/tasks.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[tool.poe.tasks]
+included-greeting = "echo 'Greetings from another file!'"
diff --git a/tests/test_poetry_plugin.py b/tests/test_poetry_plugin.py
index d265beb9d..c5e019e61 100644
--- a/tests/test_poetry_plugin.py
+++ b/tests/test_poetry_plugin.py
@@ -104,6 +104,17 @@ def test_running_tasks_without_poe_command_prefix(run_poetry, projects):
     # assert result.stderr == ""
 
 
+@pytest.mark.slow()
+@pytest.mark.usefixtures("_setup_poetry_project_empty_prefix")
+def test_poetry_command_from_included_file_with_empty_prefix(run_poetry, projects):
+    result = run_poetry(
+        ["included-greeting"],
+        cwd=projects["poetry_plugin/empty_prefix"].parent,
+    )
+    assert result.stdout.startswith("Poe => echo 'Greetings from another file!'")
+    # assert result.stderr == ""
+
+
 @pytest.mark.slow()
 @pytest.mark.usefixtures("_setup_poetry_project_empty_prefix")
 def test_poetry_help_with_poe_command_prefix(run_poetry, projects):