In the Spring of 1993, The Fiddlehead launched their 175th issue that included the winners of the Better Homes & Gardens Contest. The title of the magazine designates a newly born, young being before its eventual sprouting. The Fiddlehead creates a space for writers, a place for open expression and creativity. What better theme to choose for a contest than home and gardens? Editor Don McKay expresses in his editorial: “It was both edifying and moving to find our dwellings and animal companions so finely thought of and reflected in words.” The works submitted imitate a theme of domesticity that reflects The Fiddlehead’s purpose in creating a sense of belonging for new and experienced writers from all over. Its pages create an atmosphere of domesticity for literature. A home if you will.
The poetry contest winner, “House Hunting/Home Dreams” by Kelley Jo Burke, is split into two narratives. One reflects the narrator’s thought process while house hunting and the other seems to describe a dream inside a house. Its duplicity also separates the themes of the poem: place and space, safety and danger. The poem’s narrator articulates the idea of home as a space, it is more than just a place, a building. Rather, it is a space that comes alive with the lives of those living within. Fiction winner Kathryn Woodward contributes her story, “Breeding True,” that is separated in an episodic manner following the progression of the seasons. There’s a focus on wars and ghosts, and trees and apples. Also included are a few honorable mentions, notably poems by David J. Paul, Bernadette Rule and a few more. The collection of works published in the issue accentuates the diversity and creativity of writing even when confined within the box of a theme.
Bailey Noiles
Publishing Intern, March 2022
Contents
Winners of the Better Homes & Gardens Contest
7 Kelley Jo Burke: House Hunting/House Dreams
12 Kathryn Woodward: Breeding True
18 David J. Paul: House Finches
19 Bernadette Rule: The Literate Thief
19 Landscapes in Reflection
22 Edith Van Beek: Songbirds
23 Sheila Longton: Patches
Fiction
36 Rodger Cove: The Visit
52 Ann Copeland: With the Continuing Ed Teacher
67 Sharon Pywell: Candida's Story
Poetry
31 Roger Nash: A Message from the Norns . . .
32 Bert Almon: Aggie Country
33 Death and the Glass Harmonica
35 John B. Lee: The Big Man in the Filthy Shirt
55 Carolyn Marie Souaid: Afternoons
56 Three Sentences
58 Alison T. Reed: The Music Critics
59 I Shall Not Look Upon His Like Again
60 Stuart McKinnon: Miller Brittain
62 J.D. Carpenter: Compassionate Travel
63 Paddy
81 Elise Levine: Still Life
82 Derek Hanebury: Leona's Beauty & Barber
83 Ainma Animus
84 Edward Gates: Five Ghazals
87 Arthur R. Joyce: Shattered Icons
88 The Mother Steps
98 Richard Vaughan, William Forrestall: Conversations with Will
107 Kevin Bushell: 3 Prose Poems
109 Rick Hilles: Tenure for Angels
111 Cain in the Womb
Out of Place
90 Penny Villegas: La Pecoralia
Review Articles
112 Brian Bartlett: From the Basement of Fables
Wolf-Ladder, Don Domanski, Coach House, 1991
128 Contributors
Art
David MacKay
Cover
Hunter's Moon
egg tempera
19" diameter
William Forrestall, egg tempera
98 Still Life with Gourd and Child's Toy
100 Still Life with Open Door
103 Still Life with Three Apples and Container
105 Shards
106 Still Life with Three Bottles and Three Gourds
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