And The Giveaway Poem Goes To.....!

     Yes! It's that time again! :-) {Why do I get so excited when I'm giving something away?!...If I was selling everything away from my Wuglyees shop...then OKAY! But I'm GIVING STUFF AWAY!!} ^_^ What can I say....I'm in need of happiness! :-)
      I think a lot of us are probably in need of happiness, or at least something to feel good about, today. Just watching the world news can take the 'wind out of your sails'!...Just look at what's going on in Japan!!  A 4th nuclear reactor putting radiation into the atmosphere (as of this morning), and another 6.0 earthquake there this morning too; a volcano eruption there the other day; political unrest in different countries; and crazy weather everywhere!......PHEW!!!
     So, hopefully, I'll be able to put a small smile on somebody's face today.....that is, if a poem about smiling can 'PUT A SMILE' on someone's face! :-) {Or whatever 5 stanza poem the winner wants}

        Before I tell you who won, let me say...I had a HARD time getting a winner this time!!! Believe it or not, I chose 3 names.....3.....names.....from the box. And none of them were actually followers of this blog!!! They had commented, but weren't eligible for the Giveaway!! So, please, if you're interested in winning any of the free gifts I give away twice a month, PLEASE FOLLOW THIS BLOG! {Okay....begging DONE! LOL}
      After three tries at pulling a name out of the box, I finally got one! The winner is Char! Congratulations Char!!...Please send me an email with your choice of poem, and your address, so I can get it out to you as soon as possible!! :-)
      The next Giveaway will be April 1st, 2011. And as the perfect April gift....^_^...I'm giving away the Purple Suede Crochet Slouch Hat that I made a little while back.

     Shequita's head is 22 inches around (55.9cm). So that'll give you some idea of the size....As always, you can enter the Giveaway by being a blog follower (of THIS blog! Just thought I should clarify that! LOL), and making a comment below. If you want more than one entry, come back and comment at least once each day. Every comment is an entry. But only one per day...Hopefully I won't have to work so hard to give it away this time!! LOL
     Tomorrow I want to show you some photos of my backyard now. I can hardly believe it!...But lastly today, look at what I did with the beautiful purse pull, some turquoise thread, and a button!! :-)
     

       It's now a delicate flowered necklace!!! :-) The flower is only 1 1/2 inches (3.8cm).

      It was so fun  to make! I'm having fun with these tiny "babies"! What are you making these days?! Please share!! :-]
     The poem is a repeat. I thought about this poem when I was looking at the news about Japan this morning. :-( These are tough times. Find something to smile about today.


Taken By A Wave

The Tsunami hit the land-
The southern Asian island home,
where vacationers and natives
used to sunbathe and beach-comb.

An earthquake, under water,
made the waves rise up so high
that those walking on the beach
just could not believe their eye.

The waves that always had a limit
as to just how far they'd  go
just kept coming-Farther-Farther,
with a never-ending flow.

People running for their lives;
Some surprised and could not run!
Homes and bodies floating by;
And when it all was said and done,

There were the eyes of the survivors,
The tears for those they could not save;
The parents looking for their children
at the edge of the wave.

The injured and the missing;
The disease and loss of life;
The unclean drinking water
and the anguish and the strife.

And as if all of this pain
wasn't  heartbreaking enough-
There were predators and looters
to steal the rest of their stuff.

But, just as an observer,
seeing images on the news
of the children-Oh, the children!
I know that this will leave a bruise.

A bruise upon their playfulness,
Their sense of safety-free from care;
A bruise upon their trusting nature,
that no longer will be there;

A bruise upon their hopefulness;
A bruise upon their being brave;
A bruise not even time can heal;
It all was taken by a wave.     

Influences

***Only 4 more days now to the GIVE AWAY!!! On Friday, May 21st. If you haven't gotten your name in the box for the drawing, Please do! Someone will  receive, FREE, a book of my poems AND a crochet/bead necklace that I handmade myself!... See the "Connection Rules" posting on this blog for the details.***

Today I want to talk about what influences people to create. When I look around etsy I am always amazed, not only at the amount of creativity there is in the world, but also the diverse ways in which people's creativity shows itself! You literally can find almost anything you're looking for on etsy! From crocheted/beaded necklaces, ...which nowadays unfortunately NObody is looking for!...(sorry, couldn't help myself with that one!)...to any vintage item you want from almost any time period. The sky is the limit!... I would love to know what influences some of you. I'd love to share that in my post for tomorrow, with a picture of one of the items you created. Please just leave me a comment below about it, or tweet it to me on Twitter...@PoetessWug2. I'd like to share about 6 items.
  What influences me?!... This...

My backyard influences my calm state of mind that keeps me in the right mood to be creative. That creativity, as far as my crocheting is concerned, comes pretty easily. And anyone that crochets knows how fast the brain can move on to what you can crochet next! For some people that probably means that there's a basket or a bag somewhere in their home with one or two projects still waiting for the wave of inspiration to hit you again so you can finish them!... I have 3 crochet hats that could attest to that!!! I'm having a hard time picking them back up again now that I had to pull them ALL completely a loose and start all over from scratch!!! (I put them down at some point and when I picked them up again I also picked up a hook two sizes smaller, without noticing it, and was crocheting away!!!...UGH!)
  The inspiration for my poetry is much different, and more diverse. Anything can influence my poetry. Sometimes it's just because I'm happy. (A lot of my poems about my hubby were inspired that way!... *Insert sappy here!*)... Other times I was just being silly, was in a sad mood, was reminiscing about something... good or bad, or any number of reasons!...The poem I'm leaving you with today was inspired by something that I saw on the news. It was when the Tsunami hit Thailand and South East Asia. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-8_wEm7t8k I saw the images of that wave on channel after channel and I immediately had to write about it...And cry about it. I never stay in a low mood for long though. Once I write about something the emotions for it are all left in the words. It can all be recalled again by just reading the poem...Nice that poetry can have that kind of influence!
  What influences you?!
 
Taken By A Wave

The Tsunami hit the land-
The southern Asian island home,
where vacationers and natives
used to sunbathe and beach-comb.

An earthquake, under water,
made the waves rise up so high
that those walking on the beach
just could not believe their eye.

The waves that always had a limit
as to just how far they'd  go
just kept coming-Farther-Farther,
with a never-ending flow.

People running for their lives;
Some surprised and could not run!
Homes and bodies floating by;
And when it all was said and done,

There were the eyes of the survivors,
The tears for those they could not save;
The parents looking for their children
at the edge of the wave.

The injured and the missing;
The disease and loss of life;
The unclean drinking water
and the anguish and the strife.

And as if all of this pain
wasn't  heartbreaking enough-
There were predators and looters
to steal the rest of their stuff.

But, just as an observer,
seeing images on the news
of the children-Oh, the children!
I know that this will leave a bruise.

A bruise upon their playfulness,
Their sense of safety-free from care;
A bruise upon their trusting nature,
that no longer will be there;

A bruise upon their hopefulness;
A bruise upon their being brave;
A bruise not even time can heal;
It all was taken by a wave.