Out West – Southern California Poetry Anthology – Extremes

Anthology

Readers do not need to know the full history of Out West before opening Out West - Southern California Poetry Anthology. It brings together 116 entries, beginning with The Indian Basket-Maker by Anna Ball, Southern California Winter by Anna Ball, and A Throne Land by Anna Ball. The selection turns a large run of periodical material into something a reader can enter in an afternoon and return to over time. It is not meant to replace the journal’s history. Instead, it offers a clear doorway: representative writing, useful names, and enough context to connect each piece with the publication that first carried it.

This is an Out West-only anthology of 116 poems by 28 poets associated with Southern California or represented by explicit Southern California place-poems. The introduction, contents, and editorial notes are there to help, but the writing remains at the center. Readers can move straight through the book, follow a favorite author, or begin with a title that looks inviting. Each route reveals a slightly different anthology, which is one reason the volume can support both a quick first visit and a slower return.

The order offers its own route. Early entries establish the first group of voices; near the middle, Where Would I Be? by John Vance Cheney changes the view; the closing stretch reaches The Contrast by Washington Matthews. Reading in order reveals echoes between pieces, while browsing by title or author makes the book useful for quick discovery. Neither approach requires a scholarly guide. The anthology works best when a familiar name leads toward an unfamiliar one, or when a poem encountered by chance becomes the reason to explore another issue or another book.

Among the people represented are Anna Ball, Arthur B. Bennett, Blanche Trask, Charles F. Lummis, Charlton Lawrence Edholm, Cruse Carriel, Edward Salisbury Field, Eleanor F. Lewis, Ethel Griffith, and Grace Ellery Channing, with 18 more contributors included elsewhere in the book. The catalog connects their work with the journal, its writers, and the subjects represented in the contents. These terms help with searching, but they do not set limits on what a reader may find. Brian Kim Stefans prepared the volume for Text/Tech Journals, with Los Angeles, California given as its place of publication. The aim is simple: bring scattered material together, identify it clearly, and let readers make their own connections.

A good first route is to read The Indian Basket-Maker by Anna Ball, turn next to Where Would I Be? by John Vance Cheney, and then try The Contrast by Washington Matthews. From there, the contents and contributor list can guide a more personal path. Reader's edition: 160 PDF pages; 6 x 9 inches. The digital reading edition uses a consistent page size and clear typography so that the material can be read on screen or downloaded without losing its order. Source scans used during preparation remain private and are not part of the public upload. What the reader receives is the finished editorial volume: a generous introduction to the journal, a useful reference, and an invitation to keep following the writers who appear in its pages.

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Contributors

See the contents and accompanying PDF.

Publication details

Journal: Out West
Volume: Not applicable
Issue number: Not applicable
Issue date: 2026
Editor: Brian Kim Stefans
Publisher: Text/Tech Journals
Place of publication: Los Angeles, California
Language: English
Pagination: Reader's edition: 160 PDF pages; 6 x 9 inches.
Record ID: ttj-out-west-southern-california-poetry-anthology

Full contents

The Indian Basket-Maker - Anna Ball [Poem]
Southern California Winter - Anna Ball [Poem]
A Throne Land - Anna Ball [Poem]
To Eulalia - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
Unto the Hills - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
The Little Highbinder Ham - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
"Toro-o-o!" - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
The Daughters of Mapastepec - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
In a Land Still Unmapped - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
The Cowboy's Sanctuary - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
Lat. 23 N. - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
Magnificat - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
Yatai - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
The Wilderness - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
Susurro - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
To the Mexican Immigrant - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
Pioneer - Arthur B. Bennett [Poem]
Catalina Fog - Blanche Trask [Poem]
The Pines - Blanche Trask [Poem]
How Can It Be? - Blanche Trask [Poem]
The Dream of the Pine - Blanche Trask [Poem]
John Charles Frémont - Charles F. Lummis [Poem]
Jim - Charles F. Lummis [Poem]
The Sidewinder - Charles F. Lummis [Poem]
5:59 - Charles F. Lummis [Poem]
Sartor Resartus - Charles F. Lummis [Poem]
Building the Road - Charlton Lawrence Edholm [Poem]
Hills of Sunland - Charlton Lawrence Edholm [Poem]
Then and Now - Charlton Lawrence Edholm [Poem]
Wings - Charlton Lawrence Edholm [Poem]
Trail's End - Cruse Carriel [Poem]
But Not Platonic - Cruse Carriel [Poem]
One Above Others - Cruse Carriel [Poem]
The Garden - Edward Salisbury Field [Poem]
The Wind Seems Kind Today - Edward Salisbury Field [Poem]
'Tis Very Trying to be Poor - Edward Salisbury Field [Poem]
Sir Insolence - Edward Salisbury Field [Poem]
Wild Animals - Edward Salisbury Field [Poem]
The Kangaroo - Edward Salisbury Field [Poem]
I’ve Never Seen a Single Thing - Edward Salisbury Field [Poem]
Was It the Sea? - Edward Salisbury Field [Poem]
At Catalina - Eleanor F. Lewis [Poem]
The City's Voice - Eleanor F. Lewis [Poem]
At Dusk - Ethel Griffith [Poem]
A Loafin' on the Shore - Ethel Griffith [Poem]
The Prayer of the Bound - Ethel Griffith [Poem]
The Landward Call o' the Sea - Ethel Griffith [Poem]
Sunset on the Palatine - Grace Ellery Channing [Poem]
The Cactus Hedge - Ina Coolbrith [Poem]
William Keith - Ina Coolbrith [Poem]
San Francisco - Ina Coolbrith [Poem]
Among the White Sands - Isabel Darling [Poem]
Upspringing Waters - Isabel Darling [Poem]
Modern Scythians - Isabel Darling [Poem]
Buckthorn - J. C. Davis [Poem]
The Poppies of Devore - J. C. Davis [Poem]
Coyote Goes the Sun Road - John Vance Cheney [Poem]
Where Would I Be? - John Vance Cheney [Poem]
Matilija Poppies - Julia Boynton Green [Poem]
Dodder - Julia Boynton Green [Poem]
The Pale Blue Larkspur - Julia Boynton Green [Poem]
Mañana - Julia Boynton Green [Poem]
Elysian Fields - Juliette Estelle Mathis [Poem]
Without You - Juliette Estelle Mathis [Poem]
At Miramar - Juliette Estelle Mathis [Poem]
The Call of the Surf - Juliette Estelle Mathis [Poem]
The Immutable God - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
April - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
Vox Maris - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
A Cycle of Smile - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
Reincarnation - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
God at the Cabaret - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
Transmutation - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
To Mexico - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
Labor to Churchman - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
The Variant - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
Verses: Inadequacy; Freedom - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
Battle Cry - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
Progress - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
April - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
Preparedness - Lannie Haynes Martin [Poem]
Thoughts in the Campagna - Nancy K. Foster [Poem]
My Trail - Nancy K. Foster [Poem]
Fog - Neeta Marquis [Poem]
An Adobe Ruin - Neeta Marquis [Poem]
The Faithless One - Neeta Marquis [Poem]
Poinsettias - Neeta Marquis [Poem]
April Baptism - Neeta Marquis [Poem]
Youth in Spring - Neeta Marquis [Poem]
Night-Fall - Neeta Marquis [Poem]
To a Gold-of-Ophir Rose - Neeta Marquis [Poem]
A Memory - Neeta Marquis [Poem]
November Poplars - Neeta Marquis [Poem]
Joy - Neeta Marquis [Poem]
The Desert of the Colorado - Nellie Suydam [Poem]
By the Superstition Mountain - Nellie Suydam [Poem]
The Lone Trail - Nellie Suydam [Poem]
On the Road to Nogales - Nellie Suydam [Poem]
Mist - Nora May French [Poem]
Two Songs - Nora May French [Poem]
One Day - Nora May French [Poem]
Along the Track - Nora May French [Poem]
Down the Trail - Nora May French [Poem]
By the Hospital - Nora May French [Poem]
Rain - Nora May French [Poem]
Noon - Nora May French [Poem]
The Constant Ones - Nora May French [Poem]
The Feast - Ruby Baughman [Poem]
The Challenge - Ruby Baughman [Poem]
To My Brass Buddha - Ruby Baughman [Poem]
Daybreak on Mount Wilson - Addison Howard Gibson [Poem]
The "Camino Real"--The King's Highway - Ella M. Sexton [Poem]
My Bobolink Field - Laura Mackay [Poem]
In De Longpre's Garden - Margaret Hobson [Poem]
Morningside Park - Margaret Jeanette Gates [Poem]
The Contrast - Washington Matthews [Poem]

Rights and citation

Editorial apparatus and digital edition copyright Brian Kim Stefans, 2026. Original journal texts are presented for scholarly and educational use.

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

*Out West - Southern California Poetry Anthology*. Edited by Brian Kim Stefans. Text/Tech Journals, 2026.