COUNTERCLAIM REVIEW
Issue 3: Shedding
2023
published by counterclaim (c-c)
photograph: “Speaking Of Times Past” by Edward Lee
In Those Days
by Rick Rohdenburg
Weeks had only one Friday. Life was simpler as there was less to anticipate. The grass was no greener but had beautiful tints of deep blue. It did not snow often but when it did some were awed by its silence. The shadows of the day were the ordinary shadows. The orchards were heavy with bees. In summer, children splashed in the shallows of the ponds while the sun stood on its head in the deeper water. The sky was always irresponsibly blue. A field of stones had no special meaning. The cat laid down with the bird as though nothing had happened. The Antemundane was never mentioned. Prisoners in chains wandered freely. The many got up with the sun while the few got up at their leisure. In this at least nothing has changed.
—
Rick Rohdenburg has published in numerous print and digital journals, including the Chestnut Review, Laurel Review, and Raleigh Review. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021. Now retired, he lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Hotel Galvez
by Cecille Marcato
We stick a solar system to the ceiling
of our room — tiny stars and a full moon —
for your boys but ourselves, too
since as kids we never had them.
Toys bossing tidewaters that in 1900
right on this spot swallowed
St. Mary’s Asylum for Orphans
over whose drowned ghosts
we lay our sunburned selves
in Galveston.
Pluto was still the ninth planet
when all our men left, one
by one through death, divorce,
the rip currents of disinterest;
in Galveston we search the beach
for wraiths, find moonshells
and angelwings lying two-
by-two on the strip where a gulf
meets land; learn when sand and salt
rub skin, they sting and heal
both, at the same time.
How is that possible?
Packed, we pull the shades, leave
a universe on the room’s sky
the flat little moon glowing
acid green in the dark.
The Rule of Benedict
Follow his godly map
direct, succint
in spirit, in practice —
the destination
meant to unload
& fill you
at the same time; be
obedient, quiet
(not silent),
penniless:
study, pray but also work
meditate & sing.
A sign instructs:
Leave your car here
Continue on foot
—
Cecille Marcato (she/her) is a poet, teacher, and cartoonist living in Austin, Texas. Her work has appeared most recently in the Leon Literary Review, South Florida Poetry Journal, and Husk. She holds degrees in literature and design and an MFA in Poetry from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers.
The Bath
by Rosalie Hendon
It’s so cold here, it gets into your bones.
Retreat to scalding water and essential oils,
slowly thaw the ice at your core.
Gradually, you barely notice
sweat trickling down your temples
tendrils of hair slick
Sweat out the winter
Purge the cold the snow the wind
the way it makes your teeth ache
the way it makes your eyes water
Stay.
You emerge as if from a swamp
duckweed in the creases of your knees, your elbows
lily pads sliding down your thighs as you stand,
water cascading
You’re fresh, you’re new
you’re victorious
Conqueror of the season
—
Rosalie Hendon (she/her) is an environmental planner living in Columbus, Ohio. Her work is published in Change Seven, Pollux, Willawaw, Write Launch, and Sad Girls Club, among others. Rosalie is inspired by ecology, relationships, and stories passed down through generations.
WHEN MY BOYFRIEND AND I WERE YOUNG
by Lisa Low
When my boyfriend and I were young, we
went to his father’s family farm and almost
got lost nosing down a gravel road among
the falling sheds and faded red barns and
pine needles of the Northern Wisconsin woods.
My boyfriend’s Uncle Woody and his wife,
Laura, liked shooting deer, but at noon
they set us up on a wide-screened porch,
facing autumn boughs of scarlet and gold,
each with their own slab of freshly-washed
linen napkin, shiny silver soup spoon, and
cream-colored bowl of shucked strawberries,
floating hard and round as bright red nipples,
perfumed in foaming clouds of clotted cream.
—
Lisa Low’s essays, book reviews, and interviews have appeared in The Massachusetts Review, The Tupelo Quarterly, The Boston Review, The Cleveland Review, and The Adroit Journal. Her poetry has appeared in a variety of literary journals, among them Valparaiso Poetry Review, Phoebe, American Journal of Poetry, Delmarva Review, and Tusculum Review.
february
by Rukhsar Palla
san francisco
wind whacks violent
terrains change, heels ache
temperatures rise
i cultivate
i culminate
i crack
let’s crystallize
leo moon & lemon slice,
my ankle in your palm,
tell me more
about quad dominance
& possessions.
in exchange, i’ll reveal
the edge of my heart,
where i let
the worst people live.
—
Rukhsar Palla is a Muslimah wandering, sometimes hidden behind sheesha smoke. She received her M.F.A in Fiction from Emerson College and is currently working on a collection of short stories titled, Hisaab & Half-Truths. Her poems have been published in Pank, The Cape Rock, Straight Forward Poetry, and other literary journals. In her spare time, she can be found sleeping under her rose tapestry. website: www.queenrukhs.com, instagram: @rukhsarpalla
Seeking by Carl Scharwath
Visual Art
Edward Lee is an artist and writer from Ireland. His paintings and photography have been exhibited widely, while his poetry, short stories, non-fiction have been published in magazines in Ireland, England and America, including The Stinging Fly, Skylight 47, Acumen and Smiths Knoll. He is currently working on two photography collections: Lying Down With The Dead and There Is A Beauty In Broken Things. He makes musical noise under the names Ayahuasca Collective, Orson Carroll, Lego Figures Fighting, and Pale Blond Boy. His blog/website can be found at https://edwardmlee.wordpress.com
Carl Scharwath has appeared globally with 175+ journals selecting his writing or art. Carl has published three poetry books and his latest book Ebb Tide Reflections, features poetry, short stories and photography (World Inkers, NYC.) Carl has four photography books, published by Praxis and CreatiVingenuitiy. His photography was exhibited in the Mount Dora and Leesburg Centers for the Arts. Carl is currently a co-editor with ILA Magazine, art editor at Glitterati and former editor for Minute Magazine. He was nominated for three The Best of the Net Awards (2021-23), in addition to two different 2023 Pushcart nominations for poetry and a short story.
2023
counterclaim is committed to producing work that counters normative and traditional forms