Trace, No. 72–73 (Autumn 1970) – Extremes

Journal Issue

Published in Autumn 1970, no. 72–73 of Trace gives readers several clear ways into the magazine. It contains 51 named pieces or sections, beginning with Towards Print by James Boyer May, New Listings, and TO DO or NOT TO DO by Hale Chatfield. 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.

Towards Print by James Boyer May gives Trace no. 72–73 its clearest point of entry, while TO DO or NOT TO DO by Hale Chatfield and Fragment from Second Lifetime by Will Slotnikoff widen the issue’s field. Dated Autumn 1970, this expansive number contains 55 pieces or named sections, moving between writing about literature, creative work, reviews, correspondence, and the everyday work of a little magazine. The reader’s edition makes that sequence easy to follow; the private source facsimile preserves the cover, page design, advertisements, visual material, and directory information that locate the writing in its first publication. Together, the reading edition and private source record show James Boyer May keeping a place for new writing while also showing how independent magazines found one another. As the final number, it also reads as a deliberate summing-up of the magazine’s eighteen-year run.

The contents page also works like a small map. Early entries establish the issue’s first set of voices; around the middle, from the Grandfather Cycle changes the view; the closing stretch reaches The White Collar Drop-outs by A. Fredric Franklyn. 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 A. Fredric Franklyn, A. Leaton, Adam Makkai, Alexander Kuo, Allan J. Wagenheim, Allen Epstein, Alona Frankel, and Andrew Neiderman, along with 94 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 James Boyer May, published by Villiers Publications Ltd., and issued from London, England; Hollywood, California (editorial office). 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—Little magazines, Experimental literature, Poetry, Fiction, and Literary criticism—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 Towards Print by James Boyer May, turn next to from the Grandfather Cycle, and finish with The White Collar Drop-outs by A. Fredric Franklyn. The clean reading edition is designed for that kind of movement. Original scan: 356 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 331 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

A. Fredric Franklyn — Essayist
A. Leaton — Poet
Adam Makkai — Contributor
Alexander Kuo — Poet
Allan J. Wagenheim — Essayist
Allen Epstein — Artist
Alona Frankel — Contributor
Andrew Neiderman — Contributor
Ann Barker Shames — Poet
Anton N. Nyerges — Poet
Benjamin A. Kerner — Poet
Bruce Nesbitt — Essayist
Bruton Connors — Contributor
Carl Bourland — Contributor
Carl Linder — Fiction writer
Carolyn Wolfe — Poet
Charles Doyle — Poet
Charles Robinson — Poet
Charlotte Lichtblau — Contributor
Christopher Bursk — Contributor
Craig Sterry — Poet
David Rafael Wang — Contributor
Derk Wynand — Poet
Dolores Stewart — Contributor
Dorothy Ellin Flax — Contributor
Francis H. Hannold, Jr. — Poet
François Pasqualini — Contributor
Gail Walker — Essayist
Gayle Compton — Poet
Gil Orlovitz — Poet
Gin Eggleston — Contributor
Gladys J. Carr — Contributor
Gustav Kovalik — Contributor
H. M. Gordy — Poet
Hale Chatfield — Essayist
Hans Juergensen — Poet
Harland Ristau — Artist
Harry Drinkwater — Contributor
Harvey Feinberg — Poet
Herbert Morris — Poet
Herbert Woodward Martin — Contributor
Ira Sadoff — Poet
Irene Schram — Fiction writer
Jack Zucker — Poet
James Boyer May — Editor
James Hawks — Poet
James Hiner — Contributor
James Sherwood Tipton — Poet
Jane Fulton — Poet
Jay Bail — Contributor
Joan Norris — Contributor
John Ciampa — Poet
Keith Gunderson — Contributor
Ken Smith — Poet
Kirsten Landsverk — Contributor
Konstantinos Lardas — Poet
L. Shawn Averbach — Contributor
Lawrence P. Spingarn — Contributor
Lois Siegel — Artist
Margaret Gibson — Poet
Marvin Cohen — Contributor
Mary Graham Lund — Essayist
Michael Culross — Contributor
Michael D. Lally — Contributor
Michael Finlay — Contributor
Michael Mott — Poet
Michael Shorb — Poet
N. M. Weiss — Poet
Nancy Westerfield — Contributor
Newton Smith — Poet
Nicholas Ch. Tatsis — Poet
Ottone M. Riccio — Poet
Paul Friedman — Fiction writer
Paul Robert Davidson — Contributor
Peter Wild — Poet
Philip Hammial — Contributor
Pyke Koch — Contributor
R. D. Skillings — Fiction writer
Rainer Schulte — Poet
Ramon Xirau — Contributor
Richard Latta — Poet
Richard Lyons — Contributor
Richard Morris — Essayist
Rienzi Crusz — Contributor
Robert McRoberts — Poet
Rozana Webb — Contributor
Samuel A. Eisenstein — Fiction writer
Stan Karp — Poet
Steven Osterlund — Poet
Sylvia Roth — Artist
t. I. kryss — Contributor
Thomas A. West, Jr. — Poet
Thomas Hoeksema — Contributor
Tom Taylor — Contributor
Trevor Castle — Contributor
Victor Lazarow — Contributor
W. R. Young — Contributor
Will Slotnikoff — Contributor
William A. Roecker — Poet

Publication details

Journal: Trace
Volume: Not recorded
Issue number: 72–73
Issue date: Autumn 1970
Editor: James Boyer May
Publisher: Villiers Publications Ltd.
Place of publication: London, England; Hollywood, California (editorial office)
Language: English
Pagination: Original scan: 356 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 331 PDF pages.
Record ID: ttj-trace-72-73-1970

Full contents

Towards Print — James Boyer May [Essay, p. 8]
New Listings [Reference, p. 15]
TO DO or NOT TO DO — Hale Chatfield [Essay, p. 15]
Fragment from Second Lifetime — Will Slotnikoff [Contribution, p. 24]
Two Letters from Correspondence with a Deipnosophist* — Will Slotnikoff [Contribution, p. 24]
A Nice Time After the News Special — William A. Roecker [Poem, p. 38]
McLuhan’s Mafia [Contribution, p. 39]
Exhibition [Contribution, p. 64]
Watching Lightning — Michael G. Culross [Poem, p. 81]
(for Robert Berner) [Contribution, p. 81]
Creating Love by Speech — by Marvin Cohen SPEECH [Contribution, p. 85]
Sound of Alive [Contribution, p. 88]
Jay Bail [Contribution, p. 91]
Jay Bail [Contribution, p. 96]
Jay Bail [Contribution, p. 99]
They [Contribution, p. 101]
Young Men Are No Match for Old Ladies [Contribution, p. 112]
Four Poems — Rainer Schulte [Poem, p. 115]
Photography — Lois Siegel [Artwork, p. 116]
Richard Lyons [Contribution, p. 120]
Richard Lyons [Contribution, p. 123]
Prime Time [Contribution, p. 133]
Dissertation in Desperation — Andrew Neiderman [Contribution, p. 135]
A Day in the Life of Love War Hair Literature — Cynthia Buchanan [Contribution, p. 136]
Jack London Blazed My Trail — François Pasqualini [Contribution, p. 146]
After Effects — Michael Finlay [Contribution, p. 150]
Quinquentennial Convocation — W. R. Young [Contribution, p. 151]
Science, Literature, & Magic: Reflections of a Physicist [Contribution, p. 165]
from the Grandfather Cycle [Contribution, p. 187]
Four T’ang & Sung Poems [Poem, p. 188]
III. The Festival of Ching Ming [Contribution, p. 188]
IV. She (A Song) [Contribution, p. 189]
Recalling Norman Thomas [Contribution, p. 201]
Waking up — Irene Schram [Fiction, p. 211]
tossing in the bed [Contribution, p. 212]
The Alphabet of Mathematics — Paul Friedman [Fiction, p. 220]
Paul Friedman [Contribution, p. 222]
Paul Friedman [Contribution, p. 225]
Excerpt from the Contortionist [Contribution, p. 230]
From Allee Allee in Free — Carl Linder [Fiction, p. 242]
(preliminary draft of a novel) [Contribution, p. 242]
woman of the oven — Carl Linder [Contribution, p. 253]
A Series of Three Prose Portraits from a Novel in Progress [Contribution, p. 258]
A Brief Portrait and Analysis of Potstick — Bruton Connors [Contribution, p. 261]
Carnegie [Contribution, p. 263]
Poem for My Students — Robert McRoberts [Poem, p. 265]
In Commemoration of My Birth — Charles Robinson [Poem, p. 268]
In-group Theory [Contribution, p. 270]
The Shy Octopus — Adam Makkai [Contribution, p. 271]
Jean Toomer’s Cane — Gail Walker [Essay, p. 273]
A Balancing Monster of Love — Bruce Nesbitt [Essay, p. 279]
Blanco: a New Synthesis of the Poetry of Octavio Paz — Ramon Xirau [Contribution, p. 288]
Our Diluted Iris — Mary Graham Lund [Essay, p. 292]
The Pen Is Mightier Than the Pen — Charles Doyle [Poem, p. 302]
The White Collar Drop-outs — A. Fredric Franklyn [Essay, p. 303]

Rights and citation

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

Trace, no. 72–73 (Autumn 1970). Text/Tech Journals reader’s edition, 2026.