An entry to the 2025 Irish Epilepsy League writing competition was from pharmacy student Jessie Huang.
You can read Jessie's entry in full below...
The Lightning Keeper
i.
A flicker—then the storm
Body, a struck match,
flares and crumples.
The floor greets you
like a lover you never wanted.
ii.
Dedicate each one a numbered eulogy:
The Dinner Party.
The Sidewalk Epiphany.
The Night You Bit Through the Sky.
(Lightning never strikes the same place twice)
Fear lives in your hands now— They flutter like moth wings before the afterglow.
iii.
Count exits like rosary beads,
Haggle with gods:
Take the left arm, but let me drive.
Take the dreams, but not the job.
The doctors say ”abnormal electricity”—
You know better. This is how prophets meet God:
not in whispers, But in white-hot fury, nerves on fire.
iv.
You learn to love this quiet body,
the unlit match,
the days when you are just —
buying oranges,
unremarkable;
untouched