Young Ravens Literary Review: A Biannual Online Literary Journal
  Young Ravens Literary Review
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  • Interviews
    • Issue 1 Interviews >
      • Interview with artist Ira Joel Haber
      • Interview with writer S. L. Woodford
      • Interview with poet Dayna Patterson
    • Issue 2 Interviews >
      • Interview with poet Laura Lovic-Lindsay
      • Interview with photographer Michelle Hrvat
      • Interview with author Thalia Spinrad
      • Interview with artist Bobbie Berendson W.
    • Issue 3 Interviews >
      • Interview with author Terri Glass
      • Interview with poet Michael Keshigian
      • Interview with artist Zephren Turner
    • Issue 4 Interviews >
      • Interview with Poet Anne Whitehouse
      • Interview with Artist W. Jack Savage
      • Interview with Author Krisanne Knudsen
    • Issue 5 Interviews >
      • Interview with Poet Seth Jani
      • Interview with Artist Fabrice Poussin
      • Interview with Writer Judith Kelly Quaempts
    • Issue 6 Interviews >
      • Interview with Artist Christine Stoddard
      • Interview with Poet Ricky Ray
      • Interview with Poet Christina Lovin
    • Issue 7 Interviews >
      • Interview with Artist Max Talley
      • Interview with Poet Ali Hintz
      • Interview with Author Lauren Morrow
  • Issues
    • Issue 1 >
      • Cover Art "Girl with Bouquet"
      • Hearing
      • Tiger Nebula & Barnacles
      • 3 Poems by Dayna Patterson
      • A Fruitful Tale
      • 3 Photographs of Spain
      • Sea Ice & Touch the Sun
      • Toad Hunting
      • Touch of Rainbow
      • Moon over Venice & Fontana di Trevi
      • Longboat Key Beach
      • Seashells & Colored Grove
      • Driving Home from the Bar with Frankie, Winter
      • You are the Vision
      • The Embroidery (Vyshyvanka)
      • Safe, Sound
    • Issue 2 >
      • Cover art by Tommy Ottley
      • Introduction
      • Bobbie Berendson W.
      • Laura Madeline Wiseman
      • Robert A. Kaufman
      • Laura Lovic-Lindsay
      • Rebecca Page
      • Lanette Cadle
      • Michelle Hrvat
      • Heather Monson
      • Maria S. Picone
      • Mary Bast
      • Bridget Gage-Dixon
      • Liz & Elisa Pulido
      • Katherine Simmons
      • Thalia Spinrad
      • Wilda Morris
      • Ruth Foley
      • Brent Danley Jones
      • Sarah Sadie
    • Issue 3 >
      • Cover Art by Zephren Turner
      • Introduction
      • Michael Keshigian
      • Natalie Luehr
      • Fern G. Z. Carr
      • Elizabeth Perdomo
      • Anandi Wilkinson
      • Terri Glass
      • Brendan Walsh
      • Heidi Morrell
      • Marianne Szlyk
      • Rachel Bownik
      • Dennis Trujillo
      • Dani Dymond
      • Sylvia Ashby
      • W. Jack Savage
      • Krisanne Hastings Knudsen
      • Dayna Patterson
      • Mary Buchinger
      • Linda M. Crate
      • Nels Hanson
      • Stephen L. Peck
      • Debbie Barr
      • Joanne Esser
      • Anne Whitehouse
      • Emily Strauss
    • Issue 4 >
      • Cover art by Kurt Knudsen
      • Introduction: the heart of cyclicity
      • Page Turner
      • Randel McCraw Helms
      • Anne Whitehouse
      • Bridget Gage-DIxon
      • Lisa Cook
      • Mary Stike
      • W. Jack Savage
      • Michael Pendragon
      • J. Ellington
      • Mantz Yorke
      • John Grey
      • Carl Boon
      • Lynn Otto
      • Ayendy Bonifacio
      • Yuan Changming
      • Paul Stansbury
      • Ingrid Bruck
      • Helen Patrice
      • Laura Sobbott Ross
      • Krisanne Hastings Knudsen
      • Emily Bilman
      • Kaye Linden
      • Edilson A. Ferreira
      • Jessica Lindsley
      • Michael Keshigian
    • Issue 5 >
      • Introduction
      • Kirchheimer & Piudik
      • Robert Ford
      • Mark A. Fisher
      • Eli T. Mond
      • Dani Dymond
      • Seth Jani
      • Tonya Hamill (Poetry)
      • Kersten Christianson
      • Ed Higgins
      • Thomas Piekarski
      • Don Thompson
      • Marc Carver
      • Carol Smallwood
      • Mackenzie Dwyer
      • Michael Keshigian
      • Banwynn (Suta) Oakshadow
      • Terri Simon
      • Richard Fein
      • Andrew Hubbard
      • Matthew Burns
      • Allison Gish
      • Judith Kelly Quaempts
      • Anthony Rubino
      • Tonya Hamill (Art)
      • Jennie Harward
      • Chad M. Horn
      • Shandi Kano
      • Fabrice Poussin
      • Alec Solomita
      • Review
    • Issue 6 >
      • Introduction
      • Christine Stoddard
      • Ahrend Torrey
      • Jenn Powers
      • Felicia Mitchell
      • Brandon Marlon
      • Natalie Luehr
      • Sarah Rehfeldt
      • Terri Glass
      • Christina Lovin
      • Kelly DuMar
      • Joan White
      • Peggy Turnbull
      • Nate Maxson
      • Vivian Wagner
      • Tushar Jain
      • Gordon Kippola
      • Randel McCraw Helms
      • Ashley Park Owens - Art
      • Marianne Peel
      • Lindsey S. Frantz
      • Mark Bonica
      • Ed Krizek
      • Ricky Ray
      • Edilson Ferreira
      • Anne Whitehouse
      • Cat Dixon
      • Barbara Brooks
      • William Doreski
      • John Grey
      • Michael Keshigian
      • Maureen Solomon
      • Kersten Christianson
      • Jennifer Liston
      • Shawna Sommerstad
      • Ashley Parker Owens - Poetry
      • Claire Blotter
      • Zev Torres
    • Issue 7 >
      • Introduction Issue 7
      • Max Talley
      • Thomas O'Connell
      • Fabrice Poussin
      • Archita Mittra
      • Ali Hintz
      • Lucía Damacela
      • Steven Sher
      • Cynthia Blank
      • Kathryn Knight Sonntag
      • Holly Day
      • Judy Shepps Battle
      • Allegra Forman
      • Kristen Wood
      • Sarah Rehfeldt
      • Don Thompson
      • Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz
      • Dan Brook
      • Michael Maul
      • Dennis Trujillo
      • Lauren Morrow
      • Daginne Aignend
      • Ann Christine Tabaka
      • Judith Kelly Quaempts
      • Michael Keshigian
      • Karen Poppy
      • Matthew Barron
      • Krikor Der Hohannesian
      • Linda M. Crate
      • Natalie Schriefer
      • Bob Carlton
      • Roger Sippl
      • Jake Sheff
      • Dan Brook - NF
      • Jim Zola
      • Kelsey May
      • Mark A. Fisher
      • Meg Freer
      • Chris Connolly
      • DJ Hill
      • Mantz Yorke
      • Mark J. Mitchell
  • Submission Guidelines
  • About Us
Mark Bonica
 
White Out
 
the wind blows the powdered snow
from about the season-worn graves
of the Puritan dead.
 
the white squalls cross the asphalt in my headlights
like ghosts -
 
ghosts rushing about on their knees.
 
they leave trails of snow
where the road would have drawn blood:
 
sin still enrages them
 
even as I pass through their prayers
on into darkness.


Falling Away
 
It is late fall in the world.
We dangle our legs off the dock above a river somewhere.
 
The water is doing its moving/not moving thing
of being here and on its way elsewhere.
 
Everything but the river and the dock begins to fade away:
first the things behind us become like smoke
because we are not holding them in place with our gaze,
then the trees on the far bank become hazy,
and even as they drift downriver like vapor
we look skyward and see that the blue has dissolved
leaving a starry blackness.
 
We are now flowing through the universe,
powered by the river's gentle current.
 
You lay back, feeling the wood through your t-shirt
against your shoulder blades,
and you begin to count the stars.
 
I look down river to where we have been –
it seems impossible to look up river
as that would be to know something before it happened,
which of course
is not possible.


 Mark Bonica was a soldier once, and young, but neither of these anymore. Instead, he teaches at the University of New Hampshire, where he enjoys helping launch young people on their own grand adventures. His poetry and fiction have appeared in the Loch Raven Review, Words Dance, Oak Bend Review, Vagabondage, and others.



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