Journal Issue
Open this August 1923 issue of The Lyric West and the contents begin making their own introductions. It contains 39 named pieces or sections, beginning with Now I Shall March by Mary Sinton Leitch, Tapestry by Narcisse Wood, and A Pacific Dayfall by Clinton Scollard. 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.
In A Woman’s Diary, Belle Turnbull brings the issue’s modernist pressure into focus. The poem compresses perception into short, image-bearing lines around “All the lazy afternoon”; pause and white space become part of the measure, bringing ordinary experience as formally unsettled lyric material into the magazine’s field of subjects. Elsewhere, Now I Shall March and Tapestry 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. The issue catches Los Angeles poetry culture in transition: polished song remains public currency, but modernist compression and contemporary speech have begun to alter what a lyric can hold.
The contents page also works like a small map. Early entries establish the issue’s first set of voices; around the middle, Phyllis by Marion Ethel Hamilton changes the view; the closing stretch reaches Alice Meynell by Ethelean Tyson Gaw. 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 Mary Sinton Leitch, Narcisse Wood, Clinton Scollard, Virginia Lyne Tunstall, Henrietta C. Barr, Edna G. Henry, David Morton, and Grace Clementine Howes, along with 30 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, Little magazines, and War—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 Now I Shall March by Mary Sinton Leitch, turn next to Phyllis by Marion Ethel Hamilton, and finish with Alice Meynell by Ethelean Tyson Gaw. The clean reading edition is designed for that kind of movement. Original scan: 36 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 60 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
- Mary Sinton Leitch — Poet
- Narcisse Wood — Poet
- Clinton Scollard — Poet
- Virginia Lyne Tunstall — Poet
- Henrietta C. Barr — Poet
- Edna G. Henry — Poet
- David Morton — Poet
- Grace Clementine Howes — Poet
- Abigail Cresson — Poet
- Raymond Alvin Berry — Poet
- Mary Cormack McDougall — Poet
- Anne Lloyd — Poet
- Elizabeth Mitchell — Poet
- Harold Herbert Rogers — Poet
- Jack Hyatt, Jr — Poet
- Faith Baldwin — Poet
- Wright Field — Poet
- Belle Turnbull — Poet
- Marion Ethel Hamilton — Poet
- Mary Carolyn Davies — Poet
- Mary Graham Lund — Poet
- Nora B. Cunningham — Poet
- Gwendolen Haste — Poet
- Ruth Loomis Skeen — Poet
- Joseph T. Shipley — Poet
- Alice Rogers Hager — Poet
- Margaret Tod Ritter — Poet
- Rolfe Humphries — Poet
- John R. McCarthy — Poet
- Katherine Howard — Poet
- Claribel Weeks Avery — Poet
- Lillian Rogers — Poet
- Martha Banning Thomas — Poet
- Jessie Vaughn Harrier — Poet
- D. N. Lehmer — Poet
- M. L. Cherry — Poet
- Aldis Dunbar — Poet
- Ethelean Tyson Gaw — Poet
Publication details
Full contents
- Now I Shall March — Mary Sinton Leitch [Poem, p. 3]
- Tapestry — Narcisse Wood [Poem, p. 4]
- A Pacific Dayfall — Clinton Scollard [Poem, p. 5]
- Credo — Virginia Lyne Tunstall [Poem, p. 5]
- A Dune Song — Henrietta C. Barr [Poem, p. 6]
- Hesperoyucca — Edna G. Henry [Poem, p. 7]
- One Guest — David Morton [Poem, p. 7]
- The Mountains — Grace Clementine Howes [Poem, p. 8]
- Distance — Abigail Cresson [Poem, p. 9]
- My Field — Abigail Cresson [Poem, p. 9]
- The Buoys of Prayer — Raymond Alvin Berry [Poem, p. 10]
- A Woman’s Song — Mary Cormack McDougall [Poem, p. 10]
- My Iris Army — Anne Lloyd [Poem, p. 11]
- A Tragedy — Elizabeth Mitchell [Poem, p. 12]
- To Fay — Harold Herbert Rogers [Poem, p. 12]
- Steps on the Stair — Jack Hyatt, Jr [Poem, p. 13]
- The Street of Fine Houses — Faith Baldwin [Poem, p. 14]
- Impressions — Wright Field [Poem, p. 14]
- A Woman’s Diary — Belle Turnbull [Poem, p. 15]
- Phyllis — Marion Ethel Hamilton [Poem, p. 17]
- A Week-End Dance — Mary Carolyn Davies [Poem, p. 18]
- At My Window — Mary Graham Lund [Poem, p. 18]
- Earth’s Sweetness — Nora B. Cunningham [Poem, p. 19]
- The Haunted Ring — Gwendolen Haste [Poem, p. 19]
- The Archbishop’s Garden — Ruth Loomis Skeen [Poem, p. 20]
- By Night — Joseph T. Shipley [Poem, p. 20]
- Remembered — Alice Rogers Hager [Poem, p. 21]
- Sonata Pathetique — Margaret Tod Ritter [Poem, p. 22]
- Solitary — Rolfe Humphries [Poem, p. 22]
- A Grey Day — John R. McCarthy [Poem, p. 23]
- Coast Range — Katherine Howard [Poem, p. 23]
- Cinderella — Claribel Weeks Avery [Poem, p. 24]
- The Italian Church in Chinatown — Lillian Rogers [Poem, p. 24]
- Reward — Martha Banning Thomas [Poem, p. 25]
- The Campers — Jessie Vaughn Harrier [Poem, p. 25]
- The Stroller — D. N. Lehmer [Poem, p. 26]
- Coming Home — M. L. Cherry [Poem, p. 26]
- Forever and Ever — Aldis Dunbar [Poem, p. 27]
- Alice Meynell — Ethelean Tyson Gaw [Poem, p. 29]
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. 3, no. 4, August 1923. Text/Tech Journals, reader’s edition.