A matter of honor in 17 syllables

This Wednesday past, a matter of honor was settled in Caledon Primverness between Mr. Erex Somme and Mr. JJ Drinkwater.

The slight happened at the rez day party of Miss Kate Nicholas, but alas like the others that have chronicled the events, the original slight has been forgotten, with the second slight being Mr. Drinkwater's first suggestion of weapons (Library of Congress headings at 20 paces) was disparaged by Mr. Somme as ungentlemanly. I was an eyewitness to these accounts and my testimony can be trusted.

Mr. Somme quickly found himself a second, and then I so volunteered to be the second for Mr. Drinkwater. As Second, much of the details were left in my capable but inexperienced hands.

Soon we found accord with the choice of weapons -- Haiku. My man was quite adamant that the weapon be something literary in nature. He suggested Limericks, but I thought it would be unfair, and Haiku would give Mr. Somme a sporting chance. Though also I had another reason to sway the parties involved towards haiku, for before I came to Caledon, I often sported in the arena of haiku and linked haiku. I could help my man prepare.

And so I did. At the surprise Rez Day Party for Her Grace, Eva Bellambi, Mr. Drinkwater and I had a sparring session. He began with a Haiku, that I then took the last line, making it the first in another. We were both inspired by the beauty that surrounded us (or was it Mr. Drinkwater & I surrounding a beauty? Check the blogosphere for more details!), and we had quite a good run of it. My hopes for victory soared, as I feared for Mr. Somme, hoping it would not be a slaughter. I was paid a high compliment by Mr. Drinkwater by him saying he was grateful that I was his second, and not his opponent!

Then the day of the duel arrived. Mr. Hotspur O'Toole and I inspected the dueling grounds to make sure neither man had an unfair advantage (apart from any advantages bestowed upon them by their creator), or to find any spare haiku hiding about.

Soon the crowd gathered, and I took some last minute bids for judgeships. We ended up with 5 Judges for the competition. They were:

Her Grace, Gabrielle Riel with a bid of L$4718,
Miss Carricre Wind with a bid of L$5000,
Mr. Erasmus Margulis with a bid of L$5000,
Miss Teofila Matova with a bid of L$10,000 and
Miss Bryndal Ellison, Esq. with a bid of L$10,000.

Yet this L$34,718 was just a drop in the bucket for all the generous donations by way of cheering the participants we raised over L$90,000 for Relay for life!

The Judges Panel was moderated by Miss Shylah Garmes of the Caledon Poet's Society.

So with everyone in their seats, the duelists facing one another, and the seconds standing behind (and to the left so as not to catch any stray shots) their men, the Duel was to begin.

Mr. Somme and Drinkwater face off.

I stand behind my man, Mr. JJ Drinkwater.

The duel was fought well by both parties. I will not give a play by play here, for the Haiku thrown will be collected in book form by Miss Shylah Garmes and sold, the proceeds going to Relay for life. But I will tell you that Mr. Somme did a smashing good job, but could not overcome the verse by my man JJ Drinkwater. Mr. Drinkwater won the duel with a 5-0 decision from the judges.

-=[Afterthoughts, where the author contemplates the duel and its implications ]=-

This whole experience was a great example of Caledon at its finest. The community really came together for a very good cause. Another page of history was written in our story, and it happened so organically. It came together in a short time, and we raised a lot of money for a good cause. The slight was was well, slight, a matter of no real consequence, but it made one heck of an excuse for a great event. And to duel with poetry -- it was inspired, a nice break from guns, swords, axes, watermelon cannons and lemming guns. Even when the haiku attacks got personal, it was obviously done in a manner that made it clear it was in jest, no real feelings were hurt. Mr. Somme & Drinkwater were above all Caledonian Gentlemen throughout the duel and the events leading up to it.

As Second, and contact for the judging bids, I got a taste of event planning. I did a bit with the national anthem contest, but with that I automated much of it. I had great fun writing the code to facilitate the National Anthem Contest, and it made my job a lot easier. This was however the first Caledonian event I was involved in that I did not contribute any codepoetry. Writing code is something I am pretty good at, and I am happy to contribute to Caledon using my most obvious talent, but it was nice to be involved as something other than a CodePoet for a change. I am not just a one trick pony, and it felt good to be able to contribute in a different manner.

Its very easy to slip into seeing someone as the label they have, especially in Caledon. But really everyone is more than an inventor, baroness, knight, duchess, shopkeeper, jurist, architect, or even Guvnah. We are all real and multifacted individuals. My resolution for June will be to see beyond the labels and find out the less obvious parts of my fellow Caledonians.