Journal Issue
Open this June 1922 issue of The Lyric West and the contents begin making their own introductions. It contains 30 named pieces or sections, beginning with Waiting—Mist by John Curtis Underwood, Aria by John Curtis Underwood, and Victor Watson—The Rancher by Glenn Ward Dresbach. That opening offers a direct path through the issue, but it is not the only one. A reader can follow the printed order, pause over a familiar contributor, or start with a title that catches the eye. No special background is needed. The magazine explains itself gradually through the choices it makes and through the company each piece keeps.
Modernism enters this number through A Late Passer by Hazel Hall. The poem organizes description through sentence-length lines around “Sleep came like rose petals falling on my pillow”; emphasis shifts through image, enjambment, and changes in syntactic pace, bringing the modern city into the magazine’s field of subjects. Elsewhere, Waiting—Mist and Aria keep the experimental turn in contact with the issue’s broader lyric range. Short lyrics, longer sequences, and unevenly unfolding free verse share the same contents list, making formal difference part of the issue’s reading rhythm. In Los Angeles, modernism does not erase regional or traditional verse; it puts new pressure on both, asking poets to treat rhythm and perception as unsettled problems.
The contents page also works like a small map. Early entries establish the issue’s first set of voices; around the middle, Child Tropics Remembered in by Genevieve Taggard changes the view; the closing stretch reaches White-Throat by Bernice Lesbia Kenyon. The works differ in length, subject, and manner, yet their placement creates connections that a simple list of names cannot show. The pleasure comes from those changes. A short piece can clear the air after a longer one, a new voice can redirect the mood, and an unexpected title can make an earlier page look different when the reader thinks back to it.
The contributor list includes John Curtis Underwood, Glenn Ward Dresbach, Ruth Loomis Skeen, Catherine Parmenter, Elliott C. Lincoln, Power Dalton, Lew Sarett, and Bernard Raymund, along with 19 additional contributors. Some readers will arrive looking for a particular name; others will meet these contributors here for the first time. Either approach works. The publication details add useful context: the issue was edited by Roy Towner Thompson, published by The Lyric West, and issued from Los Angeles, California. A journal is also a made object, assembled by people deciding what to print, how to order it, and which voices should share a number. Reading from beginning to end lets those choices appear naturally.
The catalog subjects—Los Angeles literary culture, American poetry, and Little magazines—are useful starting points, especially for searching, but they do not set limits on what a reader may find. For a first visit, begin with Waiting—Mist by John Curtis Underwood, turn next to Child Tropics Remembered in by Genevieve Taggard, and finish with White-Throat by Bernice Lesbia Kenyon. The clean reading edition is designed for that kind of movement. Original scan: 36 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 53 PDF pages. It keeps the contents in a stable, legible form and makes names and titles easier to find. A source facsimile remains part of the project’s private editorial record, but it is not included in the public upload. What appears here is the reading copy: a practical way to spend time with the issue and discover which pieces invite a return.
Contributors
- John Curtis Underwood — Poet
- Glenn Ward Dresbach — Poet
- Ruth Loomis Skeen — Poet
- Catherine Parmenter — Poet
- Elliott C. Lincoln — Poet
- Power Dalton — Poet
- Lew Sarett — Poet
- Bernard Raymund — Poet
- Dixie McCarthy — Poet
- Whitelaw Saunders — Poet
- Rose Henderson — Poet
- Hazel Hall — Poet
- Genevieve Taggard — Poet
- Eleanor M. Denny — Poet
- Henrietta C. Penny — Poet
- Harold G. Borland — Poet
- Helen Thurston — Poet
- Nelchen Armstrong — Poet
- Ethel Brooks Stillwell — Poet
- Paul Eldridge — Poet
- W. H. Lench — Poet
- Philip Gray — Poet
- Allene Gates — Poet
- Eunice T. Gray — Poet
- Winifred Gray Stewart — Poet
- Floyd Meredith — Poet
- Bernice Lesbia Kenyon — Poet
Publication details
Full contents
- Waiting—Mist — John Curtis Underwood [Poem, p. 3]
- Aria — John Curtis Underwood [Poem, p. 4]
- Victor Watson—The Rancher — Glenn Ward Dresbach [Poem, p. 5]
- The Hills of Santa Fe — Ruth Loomis Skeen [Poem, p. 6]
- The Voice of the Wilderness — Catherine Parmenter [Poem, p. 6]
- Mail Day — Elliott C. Lincoln [Poem, p. 7]
- Triumph — Power Dalton [Poem, p. 7]
- Fisher of Stars — Lew Sarett [Poem, p. 8]
- Over the Hill — Bernard Raymund [Poem, p. 9]
- Hills — Dixie McCarthy [Poem, p. 10]
- A Wood-Carving — Whitelaw Saunders [Poem, p. 10]
- In the Park — Rose Henderson [Poem, p. 10]
- Echoes of Her — Hazel Hall [Poem, p. 11]
- A Late Passer — Hazel Hall [Poem, p. 11]
- On the Street — Hazel Hall [Poem, p. 11]
- Child Tropics Remembered in — Genevieve Taggard [Poem, p. 12]
- The Destroyer — Eleanor M. Denny [Poem, p. 14]
- The Geyser at Calistoga — Henrietta C. Penny [Poem, p. 15]
- The Flute Player — Harold G. Borland [Poem, p. 16]
- Woodland Sketches — Helen Thurston [Poem, p. 19]
- The White Road — Nelchen Armstrong [Poem, p. 19]
- The Return — Ethel Brooks Stillwell [Poem, p. 20]
- To Fo Bargains with Deity — Paul Eldridge [Poem, p. 22]
- Desire — W. H. Lench [Poem, p. 23]
- June Scherzo — Philip Gray [Poem, p. 23]
- The Valedictorian — Allene Gates [Poem, p. 24]
- A College Dance — Eunice T. Gray [Poem, p. 24]
- Summer Rapture — Winifred Gray Stewart [Poem, p. 24]
- Protest — Floyd Meredith [Poem, p. 25]
- White-Throat — Bernice Lesbia Kenyon [Poem, p. 25]
Rights and citation
Copyright remains with the respective authors, artists, publisher, or successors.
Copyright Status Unresolved
Rights in the individual contributions and the periodical compilation have not been fully resolved.
*The Lyric West*, vol. 2, no. 3, June 1922. Text/Tech Journals, reader’s edition.