Young Ravens Literary Review: A Biannual Online Literary Journal
  Young Ravens Literary Review
  • Home
  • Masthead
  • 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
Roger Sippl

The Last Ringmaster


“The elephants are walking down main street!
We gotta go!”
 
The voice might as well have been Opey singing
“The Wells Fargo Wagon isa,
comin’ down the street…”
through his missing two front teeth.
 
We went. Most of us went.
Whether P.T. Barnum was a cruel man at the time,
or just by today’s standards a multi-species
slave owner, we went.
 
There’s a man being shot
from a canon.
Those knives are just missing that lady
and really sticking in the board as she spins.
They make a convincing thud.
Are they coming from behind the board
or is that guy really throwing them?
Look up at that man walking a wire, with no net?
 
Tigers. Lions. And a person right there in the cage with them.
Evil by our standards, but on circus founder’s day
in 1871, tailing on the Civil War,
it was kindness that animals were being fed
compared to what happened here among us,
and the reason we were burning each other’s homes and crops.
 
But we have changed a bit, so an art form must die,
 
as if to give way to small screens that glow at night
in bed, keeping us awake, so we have to watch more
YouTubes actually recorded right while one car hits another.
 
We are kinder to animals, we say, while at the same time,
as animals, we plow and fertilize their jungles,
so they won’t be here at all, anyway, but the debate is closed.
 
So, it falls to Jonathan Lee Iverson, the last ringmaster,
to announce the end of the circus on May 21, 2017, and
take that tightrope with him.
 



Roger Sippl studied creative writing at UC Irvine, UC Berkeley and Stanford Continuing Studies. He has been published in 17 literary print and online journals and anthologies. He has written his first novel, which is in revision. Sippl is probably best known for being a software industry pioneer, having founded or co-founded several companies including Informix, Vantive and Visigenic Software. Also, while a student at UC Berkeley, Sippl was diagnosed with Stage IIIB Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which was treated aggressively with 13 months of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, allowing him to live relapse-free to this day.


Powered by
✕