THE THING with throwbacks is that once you start it, you can’t seem to stop.
And still, this is the last installment for now.
You see, it’s nice that my life is heavily documented.
Not only on Facebook, but also in the newspaper.
Here’s what I said in an interview exactly six years ago.
This talks about the very first Peter’s Prize in Love Poetry.
Which finds a reprise this year, albeit with an August 31 deadline.
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Why did THE PSN Foundation sponsor a Love Poetry contest?
I believe that everyone has at least one love poem within them, so I want to reward those who can go beyond that, and actually write seven love poems.
I’m sure most writers/poets/lovers can write more than seven love poems if they apply themselves to the task, but I only want to reward their seven best poems.
I don’t have enough prize money to give to those who can write more, so seven is my ideal number.
I always thought that romantic love and longing is a great theme.
Everyone has an experience, or at least, knows something about it.
I leave the other topics like war and peace, politics and justice, to other poetry contests.
I just want to celebrate love.
And I want to luxuriate in the beauty of the Hiligaynon language in communicating the idea of love in the language of poetry.
A sprinkling of Kinaray-a, or Cebuano, or Tagalog, or English, artistically applied here and there, I can appreciate.
But it was still a Hiligaynon poetry contest, so I said, please keep it at least 75% Hiligaynon.
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What are the mechanics of the contest?
I’m not sure if one word can make a poem, but I think that two lines can.
Or three, as in the case of the Japanese haiku.
Then, there are five-line or six-line poems, and they are fine.
But I like poems that are about 12 or 15 lines long. (The sonnets have 14 lines!)
I can appreciate poems that are 21 lines long, but longer than that, I think that people should just write a novel already.
My challenge was, if you think that you can write seven Hiligaynon poems, each no more than 21 lines, you must send them by private message to the Facebook account of PETER SOLIS NERY (profile photo has the author in pink suit), or to 500tinaga@gmail.com before midnight of July 31, 2013.
So yes, the contest has ended and we are now in the process of judging the entries.
The winners will be announced by the end of the month, and will be awarded during the awards ceremony around our Foundation day, if not on September 6 itself.
The prizes are P7,000 cash and a to-die-for-medal for first prize, P5,000 for second, and P3,000 for third.
Only the first prize winner will get the medal because I don’t want the Peter’s Prize medallions to be easy pickings.
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Will the poems also be published like the very short stories?
Yes, I will personally edit all submitted entries to the Love Poetry and Very Short Story contests starting October, and hopefully we can launch the anthology on my 45thbirthday on January 6, 2014.
Needless to say, The Peter Solis Nery Foundation will be financing the publication of the book that is why I tell my critics who say that the cash prize is not much to just back off.
Where in the world can you find a Foundation that operates like mine?
I am vowed to inspire people to write, to gather and evaluate their work, and to perfect and present them to the public.
That’s the 3P’s of my Foundation: promote, preserve, and propagate Hiligaynon literature, and I am doing it almost single-handedly.
Of course, I would appreciate it if people would help me financially in the future, but for now, with help or no help, I will just pursue my personal mission with the faith and determination of a rich lunatic.
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Will you sponsor a 2014 edition of the Love Poetry contest?
I definitely will.
In addition, I’m thinking of sponsoring a Children’s Poetry contest, too.
My fifth gold medal at the Palanca Awards that elevated me to the Hall of Fame in 2012 was for Poetry for Children in English.
I think that I will surely honor that win by advocating for children’s literature in Hiligaynon.
I wish that I could sponsor more contests.
But the cash prizes alone for one poetry contest (at P7,000, first prize; P5,000, second; and P3,000, third) totals P15,000.
Plus the operating expenses: campaign materials, certificates and U.S.-minted medals, awards ceremony luncheon/dinner, and incidentals.
It can run up to P30,000 per contest.
And don’t forget that we don’t stop there because the Foundation follows through up until the publication of an anthology of submitted works.
I just don’t have all the money in the world to bankroll all these expenses.
But I have faith in my vision and in what I do, and I know that I am making a huge difference.
So my critics can just eat my dust.
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What fuels your passion as a writer?
Envy, and the fear of being forgotten.
You see, when I read or see a thing of beauty, I want to create something better.
I want to contribute my own verse to the symphony of the universe.
I want to leave my own mark so that in the distant future, when my life is spent, people will know that I existed, and had made a difference.
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What would you consider to be your career’s highlight and why?
Retirement at age 45! Haha.
I just want to end my nursing career, and stop being a slave to the economic demands of society.
I want to show people that money is not everything.
It is definitely not the only standard of success.
I want to show that there are other, happier, and healthier ways to live.
As a writer, the Palanca Hall of Fame is good enough for me as a career highlight, and also, to be able to translate my Bakunawa short story into a film [Gugma sa Panahon sang Bakunawa], and into a novel published in the United States [Love in the Time of the Bakunawa]. (500tinaga@gmail.com/PN)
