Here are the Week 3 Winners of our “No-Sugar Added Poetry” Contest. Another successful week of writing, friends! Thanks for your participation!
We had 24 submissions this week (which can be viewed on the contest’s member page) and our judging panel has selected the following winners for Week 3:
1st Place: “Normal?” by Mel
2nd Place: “Well I woke Wednesday morning” by Heidi98
3rd Place: “You were never invited…” by Xanthasun
Honorable Mentions:
“25, Just starting to live” by Brittaney Nichols and “To The Diabetic” by Don KB
For your convenience, we’ve added all five poems below.
This week’s prize winners should email Manny at manny AT tudiabetes DOT org with your complete mailing address so that you may receive your prizes!
Round 4 judging ends February 15, 2009 at 11:59 pm PT, so please continue to post submissions for our final week of the contest. For additional details, follow this link.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
—Kahlil Gibran
Normal?
A disease covered by the shroud of normality Invisible to the unknowing eye The calloused fingers? Too small to see An infusion site? Merely a wrinkle of clothing An insulin pump? A cell phone, pager? Perhaps an MP3 player The lows, the highs? Just the mood swings of a wrestles teenager.
The pain of an uncertain future
A child, a teenager, an adult
Fighting for a future
Fighting for dignity
Fighting for a life to be proud of.
No one understands
I may appear normal, healthy, like everyone else
I am not the same
I am fighting for my life
Every hour of every day
Every blood droplet
Every needle poke
Every gram of carbohydrate
Every button press.
It is a silent battle.
Sometimes I am winning
Sometimes I am losing
But in the end, I will be victorious.
Well I woke Wednesday morning, with no way to hold my head that didn't hurt And the Diet Coke I'd had for breakfast, wasn't bad, so I had two more for dessert Then I stumbled to the nightstand, grabbed my meter and blew off all the dirt Checked right in at 303..and knew I was more then ready to greet the day!
I’d blown my luck the night before, with Chinese food-complete with all the fixings
As I changed my set, the needle bled and so I screamed like the dickens
Then I drove by a DQ, and caught a glance of someone eating ice cream
And well, it took me back to something
That I knew I’d lost somewhere, somehow, along the way.
On a DQ restaurant sidestreet
I’m wishin’ so, that I was cured
Cuz’ there’s something in a Sundae
That makes the body, know you’ll pay
And there’s nothing short of DKA
That’s half as effective, as the threat
Of a dripping, gooey Sundae
Putting you in loads of debt.
Though I know the pump won’t ever stop the swinging
And sometimes, it’s too hard to sort the choices life keeps flinging
As I head back home, and somewhere very close a fire truck is shrieking
It will echo through my memories, reminding me of why control’s worth seeking.
On a DQ restaurant sidestreet
I’m wishin’ so, that I was cured
Cuz’ there’s something in a Sundae
That makes the body, know you’ll pay
And there’s nothing short of DKA
That’s half as effective, as the threat
Of a dripping, gooey Sundae
Putting you in loads of debt.
You were never invited, still you came. Probing your traits, learning all you demand At first, too young to fully understand That now my life would never be the same. Careful calculation, everything planned But a slight misjudgment, too large a dose Blood sugar dropping! Quick! Take some glucose! Attacked, I struggled and retook command. It's not countless needles that pain me most, But 'gainst your complications, endless guard And if you're revealed, others’ views are marred. Our insep'rable fate leaves me morose. Diabetes, my rival meshed within, Deny you, I die; Accept you, I win.
25, Just starting to live, but still no-sugar added. Teacher is the joy delight but still, no-sugar added. Souls Mate found love all about but still, no-sugar added Baby.Cry..Pain...Cramp....Bleeding.....Miscarriage…….No Baby? but still no-sugar added Questions, love, confusion, life, crying, pain, stick, finger, bleed, only 25, baby, baby, but still no-sugar added
To The Diabetic
Ruby on the finger tip
swells sweet like pine sap,
tiny gem of light.
The need for sugar
fluid the hummingbird
sucks for life,
surges. It fills you,
swells to thickening.
An organ out of sync.
Numbers count out
the span of a disease,
its grasp on your being.
listen not to those
who would say
that you caused this.
Live.