Bachy, No. 10 (1977) – Extremes and Moderations

Journal Issue

Published in 1977, no. 10 of Bachy gives readers several clear ways into the magazine. It contains 104 named pieces or sections, beginning with Interview by Deena Metzger, Elementary Survival Dance by Deena Metzger, and Gray Bird by Deena Metzger. 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.

Interview by Deena Metzger gives the issue its opening pressure. From there, Elementary Survival Dance and Gray Bird widen its range of voices and approaches. The fiction supplies a narrative counterweight to the poems and criticism, giving the issue a shape as well as a roster. Its mix of writing and images shapes the reading experience: literary sequences are interrupted by 9 visual portfolios, while prose and verse move at different speeds across the issue rather than being isolated in separate magazines. The fiction—beginning with Blue Moon, I Saw You Crying—adds sustained scene and character to that collage, giving the shorter poems a narrative counterweight instead of treating them as the whole event.

The contents page also works like a small map. Early entries establish the issue’s first set of voices; around the middle, Houses by Ron Schreiber changes the view; the closing stretch reaches Notes on Contributors by Edie Pistolesi. 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 Deena Metzger, Robert Edward Brown, Melissa Cummings, James Krusoe, Laura Silagi, Anna Sidak, Mark Negus, and Shelby Stephenson, along with 20 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 Leland Hickman (poetry); Bob Mehlman (fiction); Rod Bradley (art and photography), published by Papa Bach Paperbacks, 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 little magazines, Poetry and prose, Visual art, Desert, and Sea and coast—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 Interview by Deena Metzger, turn next to Houses by Ron Schreiber, and finish with Notes on Contributors by Edie Pistolesi. The clean reading edition is designed for that kind of movement. Original scan: 152 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 202 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.

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Contributors

Deena Metzger — Poet
Robert Edward Brown — Contributor
Melissa Cummings — Poet
James Krusoe — Poet
Laura Silagi — Artist
Anna Sidak — Fiction writer
Mark Negus — Fiction writer
Shelby Stephenson — Poet
Stephen Kessler — Poet
Carol Lem — Poet
Dennis Holt — Poet
Ron Schreiber — Poet
Larry French — Artist
Mark McCloskey — Fiction writer
Henry H. Roth — Fiction writer
Patricia Eakins — Fiction writer
Marianna Diamos — Artist
Dennis Cooper — Poet
Barry Simons — Poet
Susan Wallace — Poet
Henry Rasof — Poet
Lee Romero — Artist
Barbara Harrah — Fiction writer
Marine Warden — Poet
Chris Petrakos — Poet
Michael C. Ford — Poet
Greg Kosmicki — Poet
Edie Pistolesi — Artist

Publication details

Journal: Bachy
Volume: Not recorded
Issue number: 10
Issue date: 1977
Editor: Leland Hickman (poetry); Bob Mehlman (fiction); Rod Bradley (art and photography)
Publisher: Papa Bach Paperbacks
Place of publication: Los Angeles, California
Language: English
Pagination: Original scan: 152 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 202 PDF pages.
Record ID: ttj-bachy-10-1977

Full contents

Interview — Deena Metzger [Poem, p. 7]
Elementary Survival Dance — Deena Metzger [Poem, p. 20]
Gray Bird — Deena Metzger [Poem, p. 21]
The Cold Sun — Deena Metzger [Poem, p. 21]
March 20,1977 — The Vernal Equinox — Deena Metzger [Poem, p. 22]
Erato I: Ceremony for Two Still Dancers — Deena Metzger [Poem, p. 24]
William Carlos Williams — Robert Edward Brown [Contribution, p. 25]
The Insurance Man in Hartford — Robert Edward Brown [Contribution, p. 25]
My Wife Addresses Me — Robert Edward Brown [Contribution, p. 26]
Family Poem — Robert Edward Brown [Contribution, p. 27]
Living Room — Robert Edward Brown [Contribution, p. 27]
Mobile / The Desert — Robert Edward Brown [Contribution, p. 27]
Death / A Haunting — Robert Edward Brown [Contribution, p. 28]
Selections from: A Dream of New Zealand — Robert Edward Brown [Contribution, p. 28]
Into the Woods — Robert Edward Brown [Contribution, p. 33]
Nine Poems from Gloucester — Melissa Cummings [Poem, p. 34]
Living on the Moon — James Krusoe [Poem, p. 37]
Scott's Poem — James Krusoe [Poem, p. 37]
Four — James Krusoe [Poem, p. 38]
The Wolf — James Krusoe [Poem, p. 40]
Photographs — Laura Silagi [Artwork, p. 41]
Blue Moon, I Saw You Crying — Anna Sidak [Fiction, p. 45]
Red Boy — Mark Negus [Fiction, p. 48]
The Smallest Bed Lies Broken — Shelby Stephenson [Poem, p. 52]
An Early Spring School Song — Shelby Stephenson [Poem, p. 52]
When in the Sun I Dream — Shelby Stephenson [Poem, p. 53]
Begging for Joy — Shelby Stephenson [Poem, p. 53]
Gathering Scattered Corn — Shelby Stephenson [Poem, p. 53]
A View of Woods — Shelby Stephenson [Poem, p. 54]
Daddy's Boyhood Pastime — Shelby Stephenson [Poem, p. 54]
Seeking a Chime — Shelby Stephenson [Poem, p. 54]
Limber Neck — Shelby Stephenson [Poem, p. 55]
Thoughts of Fishing the Creek — Shelby Stephenson [Poem, p. 55]
The Field at Home — Shelby Stephenson [Poem, p. 55]
To an Island — Stephen Kessler [Poem, p. 56]
Homage to Federico — Stephen Kessler [Poem, p. 57]
Eternal Currency — Stephen Kessler [Poem, p. 57]
In a Vast Dominion — Stephen Kessler [Poem, p. 58]
Bedtime — Carol Lem [Poem, p. 59]
At the End of the Hall — Carol Lem [Poem, p. 60]
A Day in Two Parts — Carol Lem [Poem, p. 60]
Sunset (Forest Lawn) — Carol Lem [Poem, p. 62]
Hiroshima — Carol Lem [Poem, p. 63]
Haru No Umi (Sea of Spring) — Carol Lem [Poem, p. 63]
Music in Cities by the Water — Dennis Holt [Poem, p. 64]
North of Kirk Creek — Dennis Holt [Poem, p. 65]
Mahogany Caoba Punsun — Dennis Holt [Poem, p. 66]
"Motile Poems Like Fingers or Root Tips" — Dennis Holt [Poem, p. 67]
Namarupa — Dennis Holt [Poem, p. 68]
Panajachel — Dennis Holt [Poem, p. 68]
Dealing With Your Epilepsy — Ron Schreiber [Poem, p. 69]
On To Ithica — Ron Schreiber [Poem, p. 70]
Houses — Ron Schreiber [Poem, p. 71]
I have lost my light tan papermate ballpoint pen again — Ron Schreiber [Poem, p. 72]
Around — Ron Schreiber [Poem, p. 72]
& No Birthday Poem This Year — Ron Schreiber [Poem, p. 73]
Photographs — Larry French [Artwork, p. 74]
One's Cannibal Diary — Mark McCloskey [Fiction, p. 79]
Lost Laughter — Henry H. Roth [Fiction, p. 83]
The Guy — Henry H. Roth [Fiction, p. 85]
The Snap Man — Patricia Eakins [Fiction, p. 87]
Photographs — Marianna Diamos [Artwork, p. 91]
A Picture — Dennis Cooper [Poem, p. 97]
Julian in Paris, September 1976 — Dennis Cooper [Poem, p. 98]
David Hockney Draws John Kennedy, Jr — Dennis Cooper [Poem, p. 98]
After School, Street Football, Eighth Grade — Dennis Cooper [Poem, p. 99]
Terminal Cancer — Barry Simons [Poem, p. 100]
Fever — Barry Simons [Poem, p. 100]
Express Train — Barry Simons [Poem, p. 101]
Robert — Barry Simons [Poem, p. 102]
Beginnings — Susan Wallace [Poem, p. 103]
them — Henry Rasof [Poem, p. 107]
a short story made long — Henry Rasof [Poem, p. 107]
the meeting — Henry Rasof [Poem, p. 108]
text on painting — Henry Rasof [Poem, p. 108]
The Play — Henry Rasof [Poem, p. 109]
Poem with a Shape — Henry Rasof [Poem, p. 110]
Search for Survivors — Henry Rasof [Poem, p. 110]
Photographs — Lee Romero [Artwork, p. 111]
Betrayal — Barbara Harrah [Fiction, p. 117]
Beyond the Straits (Jan 1946) — Marine Warden [Poem, p. 122]
Tokio 1946 — Marine Warden [Poem, p. 124]
Strange Harbor — Marine Warden [Poem, p. 124]
Thanksgiving Day, 1946 — Marine Warden [Poem, p. 125]
Fisherman's Wharf 1975 — Marine Warden [Poem, p. 126]
What Words — Chris Petrakos [Poem, p. 127]
Here — Chris Petrakos [Poem, p. 128]
Touch — Chris Petrakos [Poem, p. 129]
Simply the Words — Michael C. Ford [Poem, p. 130]
Bastille Day — Michael C. Ford [Poem, p. 130]
War Baby — Michael C. Ford [Poem, p. 130]
Strategy — Michael C. Ford [Poem, p. 130]
The Day My Uncle Divorced Gene Tierney — Michael C. Ford [Poem, p. 131]
Future — Michael C. Ford [Poem, p. 131]
Ode to the Board of Trade — Michael C. Ford [Poem, p. 131]
The Great American Grab-Bag of 1946 — Michael C. Ford [Poem, p. 132]
Your Brother Goes Down Off the Coast of Laguna — Michael C. Ford [Poem, p. 132]
On My 14th Birthday — Michael C. Ford [Poem, p. 132]
Mother, Somewhere — Greg Kosmicki [Poem, p. 133]
Photographs — Edie Pistolesi [Artwork, p. 134]
The Thursday of the Small Rains — Edie Pistolesi [Artwork, p. 136]
Martha Ronk Lifson on Kate Ellen Braverman's Milk Run and Wanda Coleman's Art in the — Edie Pistolesi [Artwork, p. 140]
Joseph Hansen on Lawrence P. Spingarn's The Blue Door and Other Stories — Edie Pistolesi [Artwork, p. 142]
Notes on Contributors — Edie Pistolesi [Artwork, p. 144]

Rights and citation

Rights in the individual contributions and the periodical compilation have not been fully resolved.

*Bachy*, no. 10, 1977. Text/Tech Journals, reader’s edition.