master of following a pattern  
honorable mention 
third place
 in a perfect environment, the 
flowers should flourish 
but some will still wilt. 
they are afraid to absorb the water they are given: 
a sunflower sun-shy, turning his face away from the very being that gives it life. 
a succulent, hydrophobic
an organism that has learned to survive the harshest
to the point where it drowns
 and gasps in the confines of it’s comfort 

fear, the thing that made our ancestors run 
makes me 
scream at every welcoming (mocking) smile 
hide from every helping hand that holds the power to strangle

enveloped by nature’s tight grip, her caring embrace
weed us out, mother, weed 
us out.