Matt Kendrick
Writer | Editor | Teacher
WELKIN MINI 2025 - SECOND PLACE
You Say When the Rain Comes, it Will Be a Message From God
by Karen Baumgart
telling us it’s safe to go outside, Mama said so when she left you in charge, and anyway stop asking because the sun would wrap us in blisters, like those jellyfish in the nature book.
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I want to ask why does God write on raindrops? and what crayon does he use? and don’t the letters smudge like writing on shiny paper?
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I want to ask is Mama gone for always? and was it because I ask too many questions? and why wouldn’t God send her back, instead of sending rain?
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I want to ask can we have a different message?
Karen Baumgart lives in Australia and adores beautiful quotes, pink things, cats, and chai lattes. She loves working in human services policy, especially when it enables marginalised people to have a voice. Karen used to be an English teacher, and is quite certain that writing is, indeed, the best therapy.
Instagram: @miss.cake.girl | Twitter / X: @cake_girl__ | BlueSky: @cake-girl.bsky.social​
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Judge's comment:
There are so many questions in the white space of this micro – where are we in time. Is this a speculative future or does it reflect on the present moment? What has happened to Mama? I love how these questions interact with the questions that been given to a reader on the page, how we are asked to engage with the story on different levels and how the emotions resonate as a result.