THE LORD OF THE RINGS RETURNS
STOP!!!
PLEASE READ THIS CONTEST PAGE CAREFULLY
EVERYTHING IS EXPLAINED IN DETAIL,
MISSING A CLUE WOULD RESULT IN AN AUTOMATIC 
DISQUALIFICATION
THIS CONTEST IS SPONSORED BY
FRIENDS/ MEMBERS AFFILIATED WITH
allpoetry.com
&
GREGG’S POETRY DEN
View my page on Gregg's Poetry Den
(click on the italics, become a member)
With your permission
I have the right to publish the winning poetry on
GREGG’S POETRY DEN
Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome/
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Contest
THIS CONTEST STARTS ON THE
EVE OF WORLD AIDS DAY, SUNDAY DECEMBER 1ST
WILL END EASTERN STANDARD TIME (Québec, Canada)
MIDNIGHT ON January 02, 2009
(Will extend, as this is the requirement when starting a contest by allpoetry.com), but I want us to have a mega good time and a mega contest.
HISTORY
In the early 1980s, an epidemic broke out in the world that quickly became a pandemic that would test the limits of mankind. This pandemic would affect government policy, the medical and scientific communities, funding for people who are infected/affected with this chronic illness and test the compassion of the world against this modern-day leprosy.
Each country faced its own problems: South Africa saw a rise in the heterosexual communities and today there are more children orphaned from this illness than anywhere else in the world; Haiti saw an increase in women with HIV/AIDS because husbands went out and slept with younger girls and refused to use the free distributed condoms; in Europe, the rise became apparent amongst the drug community because of shared needles and lack of a needle-exchange program; and in Canada and US, the pandemic was traced back to the homosexual community. Each country faced it own problems and through this we experienced intolerance, discrimination, isolation, ostracizing, and death.
MISSION:
This contest is to write a poem about how HIV/AIDS is perceived now, 25 years later since it was first discovered by the American and French governments.
FORMAT: ANY FORM:
TRADITIONAL
FREE VERSE
A POETRY FORM YOU CREATED :
If you choose this option, you
MUST SUPPLY A LINK OF INSTRUCTION TO CREATE ONE
(I say this because I have been known to write my critique
in YOUR CREATED POETRY FORM)
IT MUST BE
a political/social commentary
a piece written In Memoriam
a testimony about living with HIV/AIDS
about caring for someone with HIV/AIDS.
Click here for more Gay-Pride Graphics!
DIVERSITY IS AN ACCEPTANCE HERE:
ANY INTOLERANCE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!!!
What It CANNOT be about is discrimination through attack and prejudices. I personally do not want to see a poem that says directly or indirectly FAGS=HIV or faggots must die! I would like to see writings that are compassionate, that show a possible understanding about this chronic illness and to see if there is any changes towards people living with HIV/AIDS in the past 25 years or if we are still stagnated in our thoughts towards this pandemic.
YOUR HOST
I have been living with HIV for 25 years, and have not been diagnosed with AIDS as of this date. What this means is that I am a carrier of the anti-bodies for this chronic illness and they have not replicated enough in my body for a full diagnosis of AIDS, but that can change as I go further into my years as a carrier. I have been a full-time volunteer in Canada and have opened up three community organization locally and one internationally for People Living with HIV/AIDS. I have sat on numerous para-governmental Board of Directors, Standing Committees for the Rights of people living with this chronic illness, hosted and presented documentation, reports, and statistics to numerous conferences locally, nationally and internationally for people living with HIV/AIDS. I have a Minor in Interdisciplinary Studies in Sexuality from Concordia University and continue to update my knowledge through my membership commitments to various international organizations.
HINTS: For my contests read the title of the contest and the categories that I have placed it in, you should be able to create something with that help.
IMAGERY
METAPHORS
SIMILES
ALLITERATION
INTERNAL AND END RHYMES
These are the five poetic techniques I will judge your poem and the "‘SHOW ME’ Don’t Tell Me" theory (more description and colour than abstract, concrete...make my senses soar: hear, touch, smell, see and taste)!
EXAMPLES FROM YOUR HOST
HIV and AIDS A Collection by lordoftherings: allpoetry.com/list/4219
THE FORMAT: ANY FORMAT
I AM GOING TO BE GIVING EVERYONE
A CHANCE HERE
PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING!!!
RULE CHANGE
It has come to my attention
that perhaps my rule on spelling is too stringent.
So I will loosen up a bit.
I ask for your aid for someone
who is taking 44 pills a day
to spell check and proofread your work.
As a courtesy,
since I read the poem when submitted,
and I run it through my resources,
if there are major spelling errors,
I will notify you by private comment.
I reserve the right not to waste
valueable points on a first comment
over grammatical errors
but perfer to save them for a proper critique
and return them to you through an applause (or three).
If, at the end of the contest, the errors remain
I have the right not to accept it
into the top winning catergories
SHOULD BE SPELL CHECKED:
AND PROOFREAD
PARTICIPATING
ENTER UP TO THREE (3) POEMS:
ONE (1)PREWRITE WILL BE ACCEPTED ON THIS CONDITION:
YOU MUST SUBMIT ONE (1)ORIGINAL
THAT FOCUSES ON THE THEME OF THE CONTEST
THIS IS A DONATION-BASED CONTEST:
Members of allpoetry.com and GREGG’S POETRY DEN
have donated their hard-earned point to raise the rewards and
to post the contest .
If you wish to make any donation --
not an obligation to participate,
but it is a community-based project
so even 10 points would make you feel better, no! --
please feel free to join in the spirit.
OUR DONATORS TO DATE:
(Donating to the contest
does not guarantee an automatic win
nor is obligatory for participation in the contest!)
Angelica : http://allpoetry.com/angelica 2000PTS
Hinemoa : http://allpoetry.com/Hinemoa 1000PTS
Jenelda : http://allpoetry.com/jenelda 2000 PTS
AmunetWolfbane: http://allpoetry.com/Amunet%20Wolfbane 500 PTS
Getsbetter: http://allpoetry.com/getsbetter 700 PTS
Starting Bank: 4000 Pts 3000 reserved for Jackpot 1000 reserved for promotion
November 29, 2008 Donation 2000 (placed in bank) TOTAL PRIZES: 5000 PTS
November 30, 2008 Donation 500 (placed in promotion by request of donor)
December 12, 2008 Donation 700 (placed in promotion and jackpot)
For confidentiality reasons, people's names should be changed or withheld unless you strictly have their permission to publish their trials and tribulations using their real identity.
BASE POINT DISTRIBUTION
(Will increase if donations increase.)
1500 1ST
1000 2ND
500 3RD
5 HONORIA Mentions at 50 points
5 MONTREAL STANDING OVATIONS HONORARY MENTIONS at 20 points
I HOLD THE RIGHT TO CRITIQUE YOUR WORK
I will critique your poem individually only after the contest closes. General questions will be answered, but do not ask me to proofread your work before submitting (see spelling rules above).
Please be courteous, read other entrants and leave a constructable comment.
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on January 24
- Rewards: Gold: 5000, Silver: 2500, Bronze: 1500, Honorable mention: 5 people
- Final notes: I want to thank all our donators, penning poets and your patience. I know it took awhile for me to judge but as you can see I just don't leave you with a "good poem" comment. If you have any feedback, questions or dialgoue you wish to discuss feel free to contact me. But be polite. I oincluded the two non-judgement poems in the finalist list because I wanted to showcase what i was really looking for in poetry as well as penning a sample for you under my name here.
Congradulations to all the winners and please read my comments on the others so you have an inkling on how I judged the variety of poems that were submitted.
Until next year with our fourth annual AIDS Awareness poem, thank you and happy 24 hours.
Contest Winners
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AIDS The plague of the Century
Created in the laboratories of the American government• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
Twenty-five years ago
a monster arrived,• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
The Hidden Illnessby cheerleader 53 lines, 3 comments, on Dec 14 10:03 AM 2008. In Contest, Sad, Life, Anger, Dedication, Humanity
Honorable mention
• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
by getsbetter 31 lines, 4 comments, on Dec 12 6:52 PM 2008• Commented on by judge. [remove]
Sonnet
Gold trophy winner
Silver trophy winner
Bronze trophy winner
Entries [15]
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by lordoftherings 21 lines, 2 comments, on Dec 1 3:33 AM 2008
• Viewed by judge. Prewrite -
You are the star, that sheperds miss
the cool breeze that follows mists.by xxRainbowDawnxx 25 lines, 7 comments, on Nov 29 12:39 PM 2008• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
I cry still......
but you know that.• Commented on by judge.
Add a comment
Comments
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oooooo ima enter this!
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BOOKMARKED!
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Seriously, you ask for writes of a serious/socitial nature but state you will disqualify a write if you deem inappropriate usage of an apostrophe? I would have thought that the importance of the topic may have allowed for some tutelage, I am not homophobic, AIDS is a disease that is endemic within straight and homosexual orientation but I will politely bow out from entering as my punctuation and grammar are not what they should/could be, however, you are seriously limiting /excluding empathic writes by stating you will DQ because of a misplaced apostrophe, what if I write with Alpha Centaurian apostrophe's and you write with English earthling apostrophe's, aren't there different strokes for different folks?
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I AM THINKING
Yvette:
I feel that I ask more than that of just poems of a serious/social nature. I am asking that in today's society in the situations that we find ourselves in (more negative than positive -- wars, disease, stamping and killing a worker over consumerism); we lose ourselves.
Yesterday I was at the supermarket and my bill was $49.96 and I had my debit card on me. I asked the cashier to make the total bill for $100.00. She had to figure it out by counting her fingers. There was no calculator, no computer so the only resource she had trained herself to use was her fingers. I looked around me to see if anyone else had noticed.
I was disappointed in reading another comment like this. I have been here for four years and have run these contests and every time a comment appears like yours.
So let me share a few secrets with you (and they are mentioned with the logo HINTS on the contest page):
I feel hardly anyone ever uses a dictionary anymore. The youth today have spell check and if a homonym appears, the spell check misses it and an error is created.
There is this style of writing CaLLeD lInGo -- not for me thank you very much.
Why not share your poetry before submitting it. Get another read and take on it. Make it what you really want to present.
As a reader I do not want perfection. Even today I pick up a novel at the drugstore and read it and on page 61, I'll come across a spelling mistake. As a reader I want to be able to read poetry with the flow it is presented in. If the poem is filled with errors, it slows down my internalization of the speaker.
It just looks like a tough contest, but believe me, it really isn't (apostrophe placement). From a judges' (apostrophe placement) point of view, you must realize that I have to read all the entrant's (apostrophe placement) submissions, and if I were to read one poem and judge it, I wouldn't be so stringent, but we are looking at a contest where I will be reading multiple and diverse poetry, so I just ask for a little leniency to present your best. The apostrophe rule is the extreme of all the rules.
I do wish you would reconsider.
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Gregg...
I appreciate that you replied...even though you state that you were disappointed to get another comment like mine...as for the girl who used her fingers instead of a calculator...necessity is the mother of invention...what do you think people used before calculators...to you it was an easy equation...also to me...however that girl didn't press a button and ask someone else for the answer...she worked it out herself...may I ask you...how would you measure the space left by someone who had died of AIDS if they were six foot four before the disease took hold and you never had a tape measure after they wasted away...you cannot calculate everything by the usage of calculator, calculus or tape measure surely...having said that...I respect your need for grammar/punctuation...I just think and feel very deeply...I had a beloved friend cry and share their despair about seeing their friend waste away without any family or other friends for their ignorance didn't lend itself to understanding that it was he that needed barrier nursing from their germs and not vice versa...I guess...I guess I hoped that kind of tragic end of a life in solitary would take precedent over anything else...as it is too few people are willing to engage even in debate let alone openly support and it just seemed as if perhaps you were being a tad dismissive...but it's your contest...your criteria...and you are being honest about that which I appreciate fully...I just clicked your contest in the feature box and rambled a perspective... -
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I Really Appreciate The Dialogue
Yvette:
How careless of me to forget about my ancestors like that. Reminds me of my great-grandfather telling me about his great-grandfather the stories that were passed onto him about how they captured their women and dragged them home: "It's better if you drag them by the hair instead of by a foot, that way you won't have sand in you know where!" How primate we were back then, which is my upbringing of being born in 1960 and watching the industrial and computerized world take over in 40 years, less than the whole evolution of mankind, from the invention of fire, to speech, to wheel...!
My dear Yvette: of course not I can not calculate everything by the usage of the invention of man, I can only calculate by the beatings of my heart. Every day that I am here, I strive in my life for a solitude of peace, a stride of joy, a illumination of sight never seen before. And why is that?
At the age of 23 I was diagnosed with HIV. I have witnessed and internalized your friend's pain many times over. I have worn many hats. I have worn many hats for people affected by HIV. I have worn many hats for people infected with HIV, including myself. Now I am 48. As I was experiencing the changes in our industrial and computerized worlds, I was also experiencing changes in our medical and scientific worlds. My family has ostracized me, so I searched for a surrogate family to help me cope. I have seen discrimination and ostracization to the tees.
Every year, when I light that candle on November 30 @ 11:59:59, it is not for me. It is for all my friends, acquaintances, co-workers and family who are no longer here. And I am. (Survivor's guilt) To continue to carry the torch over 25 years. To watch and record. And if I ask for someone to give me their best, isn't that what we want: To give our best?
I know it is for me. To leave that legacy behind. I gave my best. Not only in my daily living, but in my writing. For the recorded word really shows us in the end who we really are. The greatest of all men (and women) have been judged on what they left behind in written form. Some have been shire genuises, others have been ridiculed. I guess being egotistic as a writer, I would rather have fewer flaws in my writings than I would in my life.
Gregg -
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Gregg...
Oh my...now I feel like a complete fucktard...that will teach me for yet again saying what I think without thinking more before I speak...Christ...there's me trying to ask you to measure what you already imagine measuring...I APOLOGIZE...my concern was heartfelt on behalf of a friend's friend and you are walking the walk...whilst I am simply talking the talk...I will also light a candle on the 30th...I have many different coloured candles that signify different vibrations...I will light my rainbow healing prayer candle...it actually changes colour...the flame changes...I light it next to the mirror and let it reflect the harmony...as I offer up healing thoughts...omg this darn habit of rambling and darn habit of ellipses, I seriously APOLOGIZE, lord knows why you don't want me to delete like I offered. I am sorry that your family ostracized you, I cannot understand that, when I love I love completely and to me that means in sickness and health. Going off tangent, our Lady Di, former wife of Prince Charles, was revered for her prettiness/youthfulness/fashion sense but she should have been revered because she didn't just visit both AIDS and Leprosy sufferers she touched them, held their hands, showed them she cared and it wasn't just a photo shoot for publicity. She was always being cautioned for her work in war-torn counties and her hands on approach but it was that that endeared her to me. Of course she couldn't effect a miracle cure, but she hugged and held men, women and children that no-one else would hug and she touched their hearts and souls. Maybe you're wondering why I mention her, though sadly she is no longer here, it is to say though I am ordinary there are extraordinary people on the planet that may make a difference, sometimes you'll run into a rambler like me that misundertands at first but there are people with scientific abilities, with love and light, with funds to initiate studies, hang on in there! -
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If I Was So Stuffy I Would Have Ended This Dialogue
There is no reason to apologize. You saw a rule (and may I add it is a rule that is always commented on in every contest I run, that is why I pointed it out earlier) and you commented on it.
The irritating thing is that some people jump to conclusions. Right at the top of the page it states: STOP! A person's brain should register that, but we live in such a fast-paced world right now we want to get to the meat before the foreplay! So we miss the juice. Which, no doubtedly has happened in the past with these contests. If the reader reads everything, then jumping to conclusions so swiftly would slow down. Assume is to make an "ass" out of "u" and "me". I don't go that way.
Another host would have sent a negative response back and cut of the communication toute suite. And miss an opportunity of meeting someone. I am not like that. At least I hope I am not. And you did not return and belittle me. (As for your first comment, I would prefer as the host if you would kindly let it rest there, so readers can share, with us, this dialogue.)
Life's roads are mysterious. Crossing paths even more so. A blunder you thought you made, gave me the rewarding experience of discovering another voice to read and ponder. (I have read one of your Postcards tonight and was totally swept away by the voice in the poem and anxiously looking forward to reading more...your vocabulary and juxtaposing of words with the use of illiteration for me is breathtaking.)
Here is a poem I wrote about Princess Di (and not to brag or be egotistic about this, but I have had the opportunity through my travels as an Air Cadet: Squadron 748 in Two Hills, Alberta and later in life as an International Representative for People Living with HIV/AIDS) have had the experience of meeting both Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Di, respectively.
I present this to you to show that I am not the only host who hosts jackpot contests and demand high calibre poetry. Imagine the flow of the poem if it was full of errors. Grand Jackpot Prize 3575 POINTS and Gold.
Death of a Princess (Terza Rima)
http://allpoetry.com/poem/688387
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Gregg...
Thankyou. I appreciate what you have explained. Indeed there is an irony in connections/time/reactions . I am pleased you met HRH and LD and are proud to have met them. I will go and read Death of a Princess.
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You are my hero.
Thank you.
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Thank you for adding me to your favourites and hope to see an entry from you.
Gregg
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Great contest and cause. Best of luck with it. I shall bookmark it and come back to it
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Winnie-the-Pooh Hugs
Hello darling!
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I'm sorry, this does look interesting, but do you expect people to read ALL of that? Every word? That is a lot of energy to put into something you may not even win. I apologize.
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well done! thank you ! there are personal and very emotional.... there all winnner
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Awesome, I am bookmarking. I hope you get wonderful entries in this remarkable contest.
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I have bookmarked this contest, and hope to come back and enter. I actually just got back from the candlelight vigil I organized at my school, the University of Maine, for World AIDS Day. We had a less-than-hoped-for turnout, and it's so sad that this seems to be a growing trend. Popular belief seems to be that AIDS is not an issue anymore, or that it is declining in importance, which couldn't be further from the truth. Thank you SO much for holding this contest. It's a very worthy cause :-)
~Robby~ -
I would love to enter this contest, though i have never been touched by the subject, though i am honoured to have watched a young man grow up, who was so frozen with fear that he may have aids, that he tried to end his life, happily he survived, and not only is he healthy, but will walk again too, thank the lord for the joy of this sensetive and creative young man
will try to find some words worthy of this contest
much love
littlefishone -
Best of luck with your contest. I am sure you'll get a lot of writes
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Been a long while since any contact with you.
Came across your contest...and I'm going to try to enter. -
My best friend has been living with hiv since I was 10. I am now 32 many years. I named my son after him, knowing he is gay, & will never have one of his own. Also because I love him so much. I will see what I can come up with. Good luck with this contest.
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how long does it take to know who won??
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Thank you for the bronze. I was (and always am) stunned when my poem gets picked.
Adding your comment:
