Robert De Luccia from Ridgewood, New Jersey

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GET OUTSIDE

After downing a six pack of mead
I lost my good taste and my creed,
Made something both kitschy and reckless,
A punky pink Techno-Goth necklace.

With bone skuls and cheesy rose beads,
Glass and feathers completed my needs.
Then the alcohol prompted my brain
To add gears and a bicycle chain.

Not a problem -- It still looked just fine,
'Til Rusalka swung in on a vine.
At this point the whole thing got creepy,
Did I mention the mead made me sleepy?

The next thing to happen's not clear.
A result of that good Celtic beer.
But I woke and had to concede
That the gremlin had finished the deed.

The necklace was firm in my grasp
(complete with a luggage-lock clasp.)
I belched and bellowed quite smugly,
"Now this is the essence of Ugly!"

But the gremlin left more than a pendant.
Her message was somewhat transcendent --
"Whatever the task, bear in mind,
creativity thrives unconfined.

Bead contest or race 'Tour de France,'
competitors must take a chance.
No pedestrian thinking abide,
recycle your thoughts - Get Outside!"

List of Materials:

1. Luggage lock and key
2. Bone Skulls
3. Bone stars
4. Bone Rusalka Figure* (see note below)
5. Feathers
6. Bicycle sprocket
7. Bicycle gear ring
8. Bicycle chain
9. Fly-tying material (Rusalka's hair)
10. Copper wire
11. Red Mood nail polish
12. Clear glass glob
13. Cheesy pink beads
14. Assorted colored beads

* Rusalka
According to East-Slavic folklore, a
Rusalka is a water spirit or water nymph.
They are the souls of young women or girls
who died an unnatural or violent death. If
the girl was murdered in or close to a lake,
she would become a Rusalka and inhabit
that particular lake