Turning Towards the Light
This week’s Beth Kempton prompt explored the emotional movement held inside “-ing” words.
I wrote this sitting in a graveyard, waiting to hear the final result of a literary shortlist, thinking about class, fear, the north, bluebells, and what it means to want something while pretending you don’t. 🌱
---
Bluebell -watching
graveyard-sitting
phone-checking
trying not to check again
nothing can hurt me here
except maybe hope
because I’m already shortlisted now
and in two weeks
somewhere in Soho
they’ll decide
stomach-turning
train-imagining
ticket-checking
north-missing-before-I’ve-even-left
wondering if they’ll hear my accent
and already decide who I am
but the story I wrote
was about being sixteen
bus-waiting
shaking
trying to survive
while your whole body shakes
and now I feel like that again
sitting with the dead
watching bluebells
pretending I don’t care either way
when really
something in me stirs
people talking about stories
like they matter enough
to be heard
checking my phone
while the bluebells
turn themselves in the light.



You captured this feeling so very well, Dianne! 💞 I hope you hear soon!
Wishing you so much luck 🩵