Journal Issue
This September 1923 number of The Lyric West is best met through the writing itself. It contains 35 named pieces or sections, beginning with The Canyon Trail by Beulah May, The Dance by Elizabeth J. Coatsworth, and Song of the Plains by May Williams Ward. 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.
Here the break with genteel lyric convention begins in Elizabeth J. Coatsworth’s The Dance. The poem moves through deliberately uneven lines around “His eagle feathers sway from side to side”; syntax and speaking rhythm take over work once assigned to a regular foot, bringing ordinary experience as formally unsettled lyric material into the magazine’s field of subjects. May Williams Ward’s Upon Reading Sandburg’s “Limited” answers it from another angle: it builds by refrain and recurrence around “Where are you going? said a man on the train”; repetition carries the poem’s turn rather than merely decorating it. 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, The Abandoned House by E. Richard Shipp changes the view; the closing stretch reaches Beauty by H. Thompson Rich. 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 Beulah May, Elizabeth J. Coatsworth, May Williams Ward, Charlotte W. Thurston, G. W. Dresbach, Julia Johnson Davis, Thos. V. Calkins, and Antoinette DeCoursey Patterson, along with 24 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, California, and Desert—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 The Canyon Trail by Beulah May, turn next to The Abandoned House by E. Richard Shipp, and finish with Beauty by H. Thompson Rich. The clean reading edition is designed for that kind of movement. Original scan: 36 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 58 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
- Beulah May — Poet
- Elizabeth J. Coatsworth — Poet
- May Williams Ward — Poet
- Charlotte W. Thurston — Poet
- G. W. Dresbach — Poet
- Julia Johnson Davis — Poet
- Thos. V. Calkins — Poet
- Antoinette DeCoursey Patterson — Poet
- Marvin Luter Hill — Poet
- Geo. Brandon Saul — Poet
- Dorothy E. Collins — Poet
- Ames Peterson — Poet
- Power Dalton — Poet
- Neeta Marquis — Poet
- E. Richard Shipp — Poet
- Elizabeth Davie — Poet
- E. G. Dexter — Poet
- Harry Noyes Pratt — Poet
- Annice Calland — Poet
- Eda Lou Walton — Poet
- Frances Beebe — Poet
- Virgil Geddes — Poet
- Graham Du Bois — Poet
- Miriam Allen deFord — Poet
- Jean Paine — Poet
- Walter Evans Kidd — Poet
- Edith Boyden Holway — Poet
- Roberta Lynn — Poet
- Gilbert Harry Doane — Poet
- Elizabeth La Dow — Poet
- M. Doris Hutchins — Poet
- H. Thompson Rich — Poet
Publication details
Full contents
- The Canyon Trail — Beulah May [Poem, p. 3]
- The Dance — Elizabeth J. Coatsworth [Poem, p. 4]
- Song of the Plains — May Williams Ward [Poem, p. 5]
- Upon Reading Sandburg’s “Limited” — May Williams Ward [Poem, p. 6]
- The Living Presence — Charlotte W. Thurston [Poem, p. 6]
- Storm-Rain Songs — G. W. Dresbach [Poem, p. 7]
- Songs of a Little Boy — Julia Johnson Davis [Poem, p. 8]
- Return — Julia Johnson Davis [Poem, p. 8]
- A Southwestern Day Cycle — Thos. V. Calkins [Poem, p. 9]
- The Sunset Hills — Antoinette DeCoursey Patterson [Poem, p. 10]
- To Madeleine — Marvin Luter Hill [Poem, p. 11]
- Three Poems — Geo. Brandon Saul [Poem, p. 12]
- To the Lover of Any Girl — Dorothy E. Collins [Poem, p. 14]
- Autumn — Ames Peterson [Poem, p. 15]
- I Will Be Still — Power Dalton [Poem, p. 15]
- April Dusk — Neeta Marquis [Poem, p. 16]
- True Harmony — E. Richard Shipp [Poem, p. 17]
- The Abandoned House — E. Richard Shipp [Poem, p. 17]
- Summer Sketches of Southern California — Elizabeth Davie [Poem, p. 18]
- Summer Shower — E. G. Dexter [Poem, p. 20]
- The Wood of Tara — Harry Noyes Pratt [Poem, p. 21]
- Songs of the Desert — Annice Calland [Poem, p. 22]
- Fuchsias — Eda Lou Walton [Poem, p. 23]
- The First Death (A Fragment) — Frances Beebe [Poem, p. 24]
- Singers of Song — Virgil Geddes [Poem, p. 25]
- The Silent Dining Room — Graham Du Bois [Poem, p. 25]
- Lady of Morning — Miriam Allen deFord [Poem, p. 26]
- Youth — Jean Paine [Poem, p. 26]
- Blue Morning — Walter Evans Kidd [Poem, p. 27]
- The Onlooker — Edith Boyden Holway [Poem, p. 27]
- Glacier Point — Roberta Lynn [Poem, p. 28]
- To a Roman Tear-Bottle, Found Near Tyre — Gilbert Harry Doane [Poem, p. 29]
- Language — Elizabeth La Dow [Poem, p. 29]
- Finis — M. Doris Hutchins [Poem, p. 30]
- Beauty — H. Thompson Rich [Poem, p. 30]
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. 5, September 1923. Text/Tech Journals, reader’s edition.