Two Poems and a Story by Krista Carson

Ode to Roses
(Prose Poem)

Have you seen roses grow in winter? I see them in ponds, shoes, beds, and gardens. The generous roses seem to offer themselves everywhere and anywhere they are needed. They show up in decorative and crazy places. They expand from plants and nearly dead twigs. They show up with pink, white, or red faces, and appear to smile to you when strolling by. The heavy heads fall in at you, but yet try to reach towards the heavens.

Family

I used to put-off playing games with my brother and sister.
I used to say, “I need a break from you guys.”
I used to ignore my family, simply because I felt I had no time for them.

But now as the days go by,
I regret not playing.
I regret not spending time with the ones I care about.
I hate that I was so selfish,
I regret being stupid and unwilling.
But most of all, I hate the fact that I’m not there now.

Fitting In
(Flash Fiction)

Jerry had both blue ears and a blue face, yet he could never understand why no one else he knew was like this, they all were simply green (which totally blended into the crowd). He had wanted for so long to feel like he belonged in the crowd. Everyday at school people would look at him weird. Even sometimes when he was flying home from work in his brand new car, he would still get stares. He couldn’t figure out why his new car didn’t make him cool. He had the same car as all the cool kids at his school, yet none of them would ever talk to Jerry.

After going through his life for 333 years, he finally decided it was time to visit a doctor on earth. He had heard about a doctor there that could change anyone into anything they wanted to be. The doctor was also able to make anyone become totally unrecognizable from who they were before. For years and years before he made this decision, he had thought it through, he had stole all of his parents' books about earth, and he had fully decided that becoming just like every one else would definitely be the right thing for him to do.

The night finally came, and he was ready to go to earth. He had never met anyone who visited earth before, but he was sure that it was entirely safe, and plus he would be home by midnight (which was his curfew). So at 10:00 p.m. sharp he began his journey. He got in his 59 p-jet, and pushed the ignition button towards earth, he began at a slow speed, but quickly increased his speed as he went. In just 3 seconds he was on earth.

He couldn’t believe it! It was so different here! Earth had big brown pipes sticking out of the ground, covered with green clumps of paper (or so he thought). He also noticed many unique creatures of all kinds roaming around. When he finally arrived at the doctor’s office, he quickly noticed that all the patients were different in looks, colors, and sizes. Where he came from being different was a sign of weakness, but here everyone seemed to accept the fact that people looked unique, it was so odd!

Soon Jerry was called into the doctor’s office. The doctor asked him why he would want to look and be just like everyone else, but all Jerry could say was that he was tired of being teased and mocked. “Being unique and different is what makes everyone so special,” said the doctor. After talking about the topic for over 30 minutes, Jerry decided that he would stay the same. He knew that no matter what he looked like on the outside, it was the inside that counted and he was proud that he had realized this before it was too late.