Journal Issue
Published in October 1926, no. 1 of The Lyric West gives readers several clear ways into the magazine. It contains 24 named pieces or sections, beginning with The Troubadour of God by Mary Brent Whiteside, The Cantico del Sole of Francesco D’Assisi by Lilian White Spencer and Louis Cavallara, and Canticle of the Sun by Lilian White Spencer. 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 In the Province of Shantung, B. Y. Williams brings the issue’s modernist pressure into focus. The poem moves through deliberately uneven lines around “Six swordsmen stood with six keen swords uplifted. At”; syntax and speaking rhythm take over work once assigned to a regular foot, bringing the modern city into the magazine’s field of subjects. Elsewhere, The Troubadour of God and The Cantico del Sole of Francesco D’Assisi keep the experimental turn in contact with the issue’s broader lyric range. The presence of a named form such as Ode to Thalia makes the contrast especially legible: innovation occurs beside inherited measure, not after its disappearance. 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, Moon Dance by Tonio changes the view; the closing stretch reaches Fulfilled by Kenneth L. Collins. 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 Brent Whiteside, Lilian White Spencer and Louis Cavallara, Lilian White Spencer, Joan Dareth Prosper, Beulah May, Grace Frye, Ethel Brooks Stillwell, and Irene Stewart, along with 15 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 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 Troubadour of God by Mary Brent Whiteside, turn next to Moon Dance by Tonio, and finish with Fulfilled by Kenneth L. Collins. The clean reading edition is designed for that kind of movement. Original scan: 36 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 55 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 Brent Whiteside — Poet
- Lilian White Spencer and Louis Cavallara — Poet
- Lilian White Spencer — Poet
- Joan Dareth Prosper — Poet
- Beulah May — Poet
- Grace Frye — Poet
- Ethel Brooks Stillwell — Poet
- Irene Stewart — Poet
- Gareth Emerson — Poet
- Eleanor M. Titus — Poet
- John Russell McCarthy — Poet
- Tonio — Poet
- Alberta Bancroft — Poet
- B. Y. Williams — Poet
- Mavis Clare Barnett — Poet
- Joseph Upper — Poet
- William van Wyck — Poet
- Ethel Romig Fuller — Poet
- Helene Mullins — Poet
- Alice Carter Cook — Poet
- Maud E. Uschold — Poet
- Juanita Turner — Poet
- Kenneth L. Collins — Poet
Publication details
Full contents
- The Troubadour of God — Mary Brent Whiteside [Poem, p. 1]
- The Cantico del Sole of Francesco D’Assisi — Lilian White Spencer and Louis Cavallara [Poem, p. 2]
- Canticle of the Sun — Lilian White Spencer [Poem, p. 3]
- A Portrait — Joan Dareth Prosper [Poem, p. 5]
- The Model to a Statue of Herself — Joan Dareth Prosper [Poem, p. 5]
- The Procession of the Four Kings — Beulah May [Poem, p. 6]
- Life’s Shoes — Grace Frye [Poem, p. 6]
- To a Blind Baby — Ethel Brooks Stillwell [Poem, p. 7]
- Mallards — Irene Stewart [Poem, p. 7]
- The Hermit of Crescent Bay — Gareth Emerson [Poem, p. 8]
- Blossoms — Eleanor M. Titus [Poem, p. 8]
- Midway — John Russell McCarthy [Poem, p. 9]
- Moon Dance — Tonio [Poem, p. 9]
- Our Neighbors — Alberta Bancroft [Poem, p. 10]
- In the Province of Shantung — B. Y. Williams [Poem, p. 17]
- Wife of the Pioneer — Mavis Clare Barnett [Poem, p. 18]
- Wrecks — Joseph Upper [Poem, p. 18]
- To J. D. V. W — William van Wyck [Poem, p. 19]
- On the Market — Ethel Romig Fuller [Poem, p. 19]
- Ode to Thalia — Helene Mullins [Poem, p. 20]
- The Flight Through the Desert — Alice Carter Cook [Poem, p. 21]
- Inhibitions — Maud E. Uschold [Poem, p. 21]
- Painter — Juanita Turner [Poem, p. 22]
- Fulfilled — Kenneth L. Collins [Poem, p. 22]
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. 6, no. 1, October 1926. Text/Tech Journals, reader’s edition.