Descant: The 2013 Athanatos Christian Ministries Writing Contest Anthology

By Athanatos Publishing Group

This year's collection of the winners in Athanatos Christian Ministry's 2013 short story and poetry contest reflects ACM's vision for the arts and Christianity, exhibiting theological understanding without browbeating. The stories grapple with true-to-life problems and difficulties that real people face in real life, and represent a realistic response to those difficulties. This year's contest winners could perhaps have their work summed up as, "Having faith when having faith is hard."

• Language: English
• Publisher: apgroup
• Release date: Dec 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310775888

Athanatos Publishing Group

http://athanatosministries.org

Book preview

Descant

The 2013 Athanatos Christian Ministries

Writing Contest Anthology

by Athanatos Publishing Group

Smashwords Edition

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Published by Athanatos Publishing Group

www.athanatosministries.org

Athanatos Christian Ministry's annual Christian writing contest can be found at: www.christianwritingcontest.com

with more information at:

www.literaryapologetics.com

Copyright 2013. All Rights Reserved

Contents

Poetry Category

1st Prize – Mary Lou Cornish ~ If His Banner Over Me is Love

2nd Prize – Angela Arzu ~ Villanelle for the Bile

3rd Prize – Danielle Ullrich ~ Half Full

Runner Up – Bonita Hele ~ A Shepherd’s Love

Runner Up – Kelsey Gillespy ~ The Fall

Short Story Category

1st Prize – John Hutchinson ~ Descant

2nd Prize – Colton Moyer ~ The King’s Riddle

3rd Prize – Christine Venzon ~ Retreat

4th Prize – James Yarbrough ~ A Civilized Understanding

5th Prize – Gail Howitt ~ Quarry

6th Prize – Chuck Wasielewski ~ The Parable on Thorne Ave

7th prize – Ric Hazel ~ A Man Walks Into a Bar

Honorable Mentions

[Their poems and stories are not published so that they have the option of re-submitting them again in future years]

The John Milton Award goes to Nanci Stoeffler for her poem, Because He Stood

The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Award goes to Bliss Avra for her poem, Blind Eyes

The Graham Greene Award: Deb Elkink for her story, Thaw.

The Leo Tolstoy Award: John Rahne for his story, The Library of Man.

The William Shakespeare Award: Zanthia Hill for her story, Duty.

The Charles Williams Award: Amanda Kelsch for her story, Broken Bread.

This year's collection of the winners in Athanatos Christian Ministry's 2013 short story and poetry contest reflects ACM's vision for the arts and Christianity, exhibiting theological understanding without browbeating. The stories grapple with true-to-life problems and difficulties that real people face in real life, and represent a realistic response to those difficulties. This year's contest winners could perhaps have their work summed up as, Having faith when having faith is hard.

And having faith is hard. That is to say, convictions are easy to have until they are tested. Moreover, having convictions about important things usually means pain when they are tested. The conviction, Ice cream is better than pie, if tested, does not have significant implications. (In this case, of course, finding a pie that is better than ice cream is actually pleasurable!) In contrast, the conviction, God is a loving God and He loves me seems to go out the window once pain and suffering are encountered.

The winning short story, Descant, grapples with this problem explicitly, but many of the other works grapple with this same problem (and others like it) implicitly. It is always good to be reminded that our Lord never said it would be easy--in fact, the opposite--only that it will be worth it.

Please enjoy this year's winning short stories and poems and do keep in touch with Athanatos Christian Ministries for more provocative fiction to come.

Yours in Christ,

Anthony Horvath

Executive Director, Athanatos Christian Ministries

Poetry

Category

The Hieropraxis

Gerard Manley Hopkins Award

1st Prize

Mary Lou Cornish

Fergus, Ontario, Canada

for her poem,

If His Banner Over Me is Love

BIO

Disabled in a car accident, Mary Lou Cornish saw her journalism career in Canada cut short.  She had been writing poetry since her teens just for the joy of it.  Now poetry became a way for her to work through her grief over her health challenges and her anger at God for allowing them. If His Banner Over Me is Love is a product of that process.

If His Banner Over Me is Love:

A Villanelle

(The Song of Solomon 2:4)

If his banner over me is love, why

do licks of pain lightning through my body,

fierce, fiery, bold bolts from Satan’s vast supply?

Some Jobs grieve, weep, moan, groan, bark at sky.

I ponder, ponder more, and strive to see,

if his banner over me is love, why

do I feel broken, battered, bruised – just a cry

caught fast in a second heaven’s tyranny,

one more unlistened-to voice in Satan’s vast supply?

Some Stalins stomp, shout, shake fists, but still die.

Rage promises no conquest; hate secures no victory.

So if his banner over me is love, why

do I resist, rebel, roil and defy?

Smallness in me, pride, hard-heartedness, self-pity –

I borrow sins from Satan’s vast supply.

Looking for sure proof of love to satisfy

me, I behold Jesus hung high on a tree.

Ah, yes! Since his banner over me is love – why! –

How foolish to believe the lies flung out from Satan’s vast supply!

The Hieropraxis

T.S. Eliot Award

2nd Prize

Angela Arzu

Wappingers Falls, NY

for her poem

Villanelle for the Bile

BIO

Angela Arzu is a high school junior with a passion for writing poetry. Her work has been published in Stone Canoe print literary journal, Kingdom Pen online magazine and the Chronogram print magazine. Angela has had a love of writing all her life but has just recently begun to use her gift to The Lord’s glory. She aspires to start her own Christian literary magazine someday. Angela lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York State.

Villanelle for the Bile

Jealousy is fear’s wide smile

The vivid green that blinds your eyes

You become the source of all things vile

Slithering sleek with guile

The commencer of simmering cries

Jealousy is fear’s wide smile

You think you’re safe for just awhile

Until your sense of morality dies

You become the source of all things vile

Coveting illusions that beguile

Your mind fills with pretentious lies

Jealousy is fear’s wide smile

Bitterness born of complacency riled

Its deception illuminates the prize

You become the source of all things vile

Those once loved you now despise

Burning, you watch your souls demise

Jealousy is fear’s wide smile

You become the source of all things vile

The Athanatos Christian Ministries

John Donne Award

3rd Prize

Danielle Ullrich

Hermitage, TN

for her poem

Half Full

BIO

In poetry, Danielle finds she can express the beauty of God which is found everywhere – even in people or circumstances we might otherwise judge to be worthless. When not writing, she spends her time hanging out at museums in Tennessee and working on her Master’s degree in Public History.

Half Full

Today, I passed

broken blue glass

holding cardboard

at the corner

and saw a label

instead of a story.

Russian vodka,

cheap wine,

prescribed

painkiller in

Palatino type

melted, pressed,

and molded by

the same world

that broke him.

And I passed,

praying to God

I didn’t miss

handwriting

between the lines

which read "This is a

broken man with

dirty hands made

in the image of God,"

or worse, "This is a

humble God with

bloody hands dressed

in holey blue jeans and

the image of man"

and I passed him

on the other side

without a backwards

glance.

The Athanatos Christian Ministries

Francis Thompson Award

Runner Up

Bonita Hele

Fresno, CA

for her poem

A Shepherd’s Love

BIO

Bonita Jewel felt a call to service at a young age and moved to India when she was 16, a place she called home for 12 years as a missionary. She returned to California with her husband and their three children in 2010, around the same time that she rediscovered her passion for writing. Since that time, Bonita has jotted down outlines for over 40 novels and 20 or so non-fiction works, envisioning a time she can move to a quiet mountain villa, drink chai, and write to her heart’s content. In the meantime, she works from home as a freelance writer and editor, quizzes her kids on the difference between synonyms and antonyms, and blogs on a variety of themes – from parenting to poetry to purpose in life.

A Shepherd’s Love

A well-worn path

A loving voice

Green pasture soft

A constant choice

To follow him

Who knows the way

Or turn aside

And go astray

Yet for a time

The choice is clear

Follow closely

Stay always near

But time flows by

And interests rise

To