A. Grifa’s story was chosen as one of three winning stories in 3rd Wednesday’s annual flash fiction contest by contest Judge, John F. Buckley. He said, “Rich with imagery and anaphora, taut with poetic compression, this vignette vividly captures a fraught sociological moment without leading the reader too much by the hand.“
Read it here and in the autumn issue of 3rd Wednesday.
Category: Uncategorized
A Clean Horizon / Mary Switalski
Mary Switalski’s story was a prize winner in 3rd Wednesday’s annual George Dila Memorial Flash Fiction Contest. Read it here and in the autumn issue of the magazine.
“On and off, sunrise and sunset, flashes of angst yet what may be a steady final resolution — this story deftly navigates what we don’t know about others and ourselves.” – John F. Buckley, Contest Judge
Autumn Issue of 3rd Wednesday
The Autumn Issue of 3rd Wednesday has gone to the printer. Expect to see it in mail boxes before the end of September. This issue features the winning and honorable mention stories from our annual George Dila Memorial Flash Fiction Contest and the usual assortment of great poetry and art.
3rd Wednesday’s Annual George Dila Memorial Flash Fiction Contest
Congratulations to this year’s contest winners and honorable mentions:
Mary Switalski / Takoma Park, Maryland
A. Grifa Ismaili / Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Ruairidh MacLean / London, United Kingdom
Geraldine Marshall / Paducah, Kentucky
Ben Rose / Oak Ridge, North Carolina
Kevin Broccoli / Johnston, Rhode Island
All stories will appear in the fall issue near the end of this month.
Sisters / Juan Mobili
Orpheus / Mary McCarthy
The Summer Issue of 3rd Wednesday
The Summer issue of 3rd Wednesday went into the mail on June 23. The PDF (free) issue is available for download (click the cover photo) and print issues can be purchased from Amazon.
Featured Poet / David Chorlton
David Chorlton has been selected as our featured poet for the autumn issue of 3rd Wednesday. Here are three of his marvelously graceful and image-rich poems.
On Shifting Shoals / Joanne Durham
On Shifting Shoals, chapbook by Joanne Durham
Order now at https://www.joannedurham.com/poetry-books, Kelsay Books, or Amazon
Joanne Durham’s new chapbook, On Shifting Shoals, ends with a poem originally published in Third Wednesday, “Christmas Tree Recycled in the Dunes.” Joanne is a 2023 winner of the Third Wednesday Annual Poetry Contest.
“The poems in On Shifting Shoals feel as cleansing as the ocean, as essential and elemental as water itself. In each one, Joanne Durham urges us “to listen/between roar and purr,” and to “savor” those in-between moments of observation and close attention that she brings shimmering to life on every page. I could not be more grateful for her deep presence in this work, and in the world.” –James Crews, Poet and Editor of The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection & Joy
“I love the humor, the finesse, the wisdom in Joanne Durham’s On Shifting Shoals. Her evocative language immerses us in every aspect of the beach town where she lives. We are up early “…to watch… / yolk spreading across the sky, / nourishing us more than anything / scrambled up in kitchens.” She goes head-to-head with a man carping about “a creepy old guy” digging through garbage at 6 a.m. Her response: “…salvage the bounty / that belongs / to us all. Scrounge / through rubbish to find it…” Deeply aware of the environmental perils facing the ocean, she concludes the poem “The Mayor Supports Oil Drilling off Our Coast” with, “Startled on our seaside stroll / by sudden shadows thrown across the sand, / we look up to a perfect pod / of pelicans, swooping overhead.” Durham’s brain is wise. Her heart supple. Read her and clap for joy.” –Dannye Romine Powell, Author, In the Sunroom with Raymond Carver
“Joanne Durham brings the personal and the intimate to her keen observational poems of the natural world. From watching orange butterflies and blossoms “blend into one,” to noticing how a Christmas tree repurposed on a dune still “shines as the graced/do,” to observing ghost crabs emerge from tunnels on the beach at night disturbed by “humans/with menacing eyes….,” Durham’s poems compel us to marvel, and feel deeply, about the world around us.” —Georgia Heard, Co-author, A Field Guide to the Heart: Poems of Love, Comfort, and Hope; founding member of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.
$17.00 ISBN: 9781639801503 Publication Date: January 1, 2023
Purchase online at https://www.joannedurham.com/poetry-books, Kelsay Books, or Amazon
Contact the author (readings, interviews, reviews, workshops, signed copies) at joanne@joannedurham.com
https://www.instagram.com/poetryjoanne/
Joanne Durham is the author of To Drink from a Wider Bowl, winner of the Sinclair Poetry Prize (Evening Street Press 2022). She in a winner of the Third Wednesday 2023 Annual Poetry Contest. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Poetry South (Pushcart nomination), Poetry East, CALYX, Whale Road Review, Gyroscope, and many other journals. She is a retired educator living on the North Carolina coast.
The Summer Issue of Third Wednesday
We’ve wrapped up the summer issue and it will be going to print in the next few days.
Third Wednesday Magazine 