Extremes and Moderations: A Historical Archive of Los Angeles and Southern California Poetry

THE TEXT/TECH PAPERS

Eight American Poets

Anthologies

Edited by James Boyer May

1952Poetry AnthologyAmerican Poetry Anthologies

James Boyer May’s eight-poet sequence is held together less by a program than by abrupt changes of scale and method. Kenneth Lawrence Beaudoin opens with clipped, montage-like passages that move among rain, Manhattan, Tennessee, advertising, and memory. Thomas H. Carter’s hospital and prison scenes turn plain statement into moral pressure, while George P. Elliott brings ranch work, mathematics, engineering, and metaphysical doubt into tight lyrics and argumentative forms. Scott Greer’s desert and mountain poems widen into sequence and elegy; William Pillin answers with cyclical winter and domestic structures.

The second half becomes more theatrical. James Schevill’s long-titled satires crowd philosophy, bureaucracy, drug stores, hotels, and American spectacle into elastic lines. Felix N. Stefanile uses nursery-rhyme music, biblical figures, puppets, and zodiac imagery to make compact surreal fables. Harold Witt closes with atomic anxiety, office machinery, Mozart, winter light, grief, and a final “Ascent” that remains tied to the city below. May’s “Concerning Anomalies” frames these differences as a virtue, and the acknowledgments map the little-magazine network through which the poems circulated. The anthology’s coherence lies in that network—and in eight sharply unlike formal responses to postwar American life.

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Contents

Edition notes, James Boyer May’s “Concerning Anomalies,” and the original acknowledgments precede sixty-eight poems and sequences by Kenneth Lawrence Beaudoin, Thomas H. Carter, George P. Elliott, Scott Greer, William Pillin, James Schevill, Felix N. Stefanile, and Harold Witt. A textual note closes the edition.

TitleCreatorGenre / typeReader PDF page
Edition NoteBrian Kim Stefansdigital edition apparatusreader PDF p. 3
A Note on This EditionBrian Kim Stefanseditorial introductionreader PDF p. 6
Concerning AnomaliesJames Boyer Mayoriginal introductionreader PDF p. 8
AcknowledgmentsJames Boyer Mayacknowledgmentsreader PDF p. 10
from RAINY SUNDAY (Parts i & iii)Kenneth Lawrence Beaudoinpoem sequencereader PDF p. 11
from CLEAR POOL (Poems June 10, 1950)Kenneth Lawrence Beaudoinpoem sequencereader PDF p. 12
PASTORAL POEMKenneth Lawrence Beaudoinpoemreader PDF p. 13
JACKSON, TENNESSEEKenneth Lawrence Beaudoinpoemreader PDF p. 13
OBSERVATION FROM THE LAST HILLKenneth Lawrence Beaudoinpoemreader PDF p. 15
from TWO SUITES FOR MANHATTANKenneth Lawrence Beaudoinpoem sequencereader PDF p. 15
POEM FOR A PRISONERThomas H. Carterpoemreader PDF p. 18
PROPHECYThomas H. Carterpoemreader PDF p. 19
ESCAPE MECHANISMThomas H. Carterpoemreader PDF p. 19
HOSPITAL SCENE: IThomas H. Carterpoemreader PDF p. 20
HOSPITAL SCENE: IIThomas H. Carterpoemreader PDF p. 20
SUNDAY MORNINGThomas H. Carterpoemreader PDF p. 21
THE ACCIDENTThomas H. Carterpoemreader PDF p. 22
THE PIONEERS for Ray BradburyThomas H. Carterpoemreader PDF p. 23
POEMThomas H. Carterpoemreader PDF p. 23
SOME WORDS FOR JANEThomas H. Carterpoemreader PDF p. 24
POEM ABOUT MYSELFGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 25
PASTURE WITH A BARN AND TREES SEEN FROM A SHIPYARDGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 26
THE BORDERLANDGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 27
TO A BIRD OUTSIDE THE WINDOWGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 27
OLD WOMEN SHELLING PEASGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 28
QUATRAINGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 28
CREDO IN sqrt(-1)George P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 28
MATH PROBLEMGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 29
THE DIVERGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 30
AT MIDNIGHTGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 31
THE WALLGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 31
THE GIFTGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 32
THE CYCLONEGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 32
AS I WAS COMING HOMEGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 33
RECITATIVE: THE MOUNTAIN SUMMERGeorge P. Elliottpoemreader PDF p. 33
THE DESERTED GARDENScott Greerpoemreader PDF p. 34
THE ASPENS IN HIDDEN VALLEYScott Greerpoemreader PDF p. 35
TWO POEMS ON AN INDIAN BALLETScott Greerpoem sequencereader PDF p. 37
1. ShankarScott Greerpoemreader PDF p. 37
2. Harvest DanceScott Greerpoemreader PDF p. 38
JULY FOURTHScott Greerpoemreader PDF p. 38
THE OZARK ELEGYScott Greerpoemreader PDF p. 39
from A WINTER SHEAFWilliam Pillinpoem sequencereader PDF p. 42
FOUR LANDSCAPESWilliam Pillinpoem sequencereader PDF p. 45
DOMESTIC CYCLEWilliam Pillinpoem sequencereader PDF p. 47
THE NIGHT SENSES OF AMERICAJames Schevillpoemreader PDF p. 49
THE CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHER AT THE ZOO SEES THE MIND IN A CAGEJames Schevillpoemreader PDF p. 50
HERMANSKI, THE HOBO, AND THE HOTEL OF DEATHJames Schevillpoemreader PDF p. 51
CONFIDENTIAL DATA ON THE LOYALTY INVESTIGATION OF HERBERT ASHENFOOTJames Schevillpoemreader PDF p. 52
THE CLOWNS ARE DANCING IN THE DRUG STORESJames Schevillpoemreader PDF p. 52
RALPH WALDO EMERSON RECEIVES A VISIT FROM THE SANE MAN AND REJECTS HIMJames Schevillpoemreader PDF p. 53
THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM OF EDWARD HICKSJames Schevillpoemreader PDF p. 54
PLEA FOR A RAIN OF SILVERSIDES BY THE GOSPEL FOR SUNDAY WIVESJames Schevillpoemreader PDF p. 55
RIMBAUD RAPED BY SOLDIERSJames Schevillpoemreader PDF p. 56
VILLAGE ON MY BACKJames Schevillpoemreader PDF p. 56
AS I WENT OUT ONE MORNINGFelix N. Stefanilepoemreader PDF p. 57
THE ZODIAC MANFelix N. Stefanilepoemreader PDF p. 58
THE MARIONETTESFelix N. Stefanilepoemreader PDF p. 60
IN THE HORSE LATITUDESFelix N. Stefanilepoemreader PDF p. 61
THAT UNDERGROUND SUNFelix N. Stefanilepoemreader PDF p. 62
FALL OF ADAMFelix N. Stefanilepoemreader PDF p. 63
ON FIRST LOOKING INTO 'SURVIVAL UNDER ATOMIC ATTACK'Harold Wittpoemreader PDF p. 64
REVISIONHarold Wittpoemreader PDF p. 64
STILL LIFEHarold Wittpoemreader PDF p. 66
DICTAPHONES PLAYED BACHHarold Wittpoemreader PDF p. 66
CHRISTMAS DINNER, WITH WINE AND MOZARTHarold Wittpoemreader PDF p. 67
BIRD IN THE BUSHHarold Wittpoemreader PDF p. 68
BLURRING YEARSHarold Wittpoemreader PDF p. 68
DELAY OF GREENHarold Wittpoemreader PDF p. 69
AT WINTER SOLSTICEHarold Wittpoemreader PDF p. 69
OUT OF SEASON ELEGYHarold Wittpoemreader PDF p. 70
ASCENTHarold Wittpoemreader PDF p. 70
Textual NoteBrian Kim Stefansdigital edition apparatusreader PDF p. 72
Contributors
Publication details
Broad format
Anthologies
Collection
American Poetry Anthologies
Document type
Poetry Anthology
Original title
Eight American Poets
Original publication date
1952
Editor
James Boyer May; Brian Kim Stefans (editorial introduction and digital edition apparatus)
Compiler
James Boyer May
Original publisher
Villiers Publications
Place of publication
London, England
Language
English
Pagination
Original local scan: 72 PDF pages, including wrappers and blank matter. Digital reading edition: 72 PDF pages.
Available editions
Reader’s Edition
Edition type
Complete Digital Reading Edition
Subjects and editorial notes

Subjects

American poetryCalifornia literary historyLittle magazinesLos Angeles literary historyMid-century poetry anthologiesTwentieth-century poetry

Keywords

Eight American Poets James Boyer May Kenneth Lawrence Beaudoin Thomas H. Carter George P. Elliott Scott Greer William Pillin James Schevill Felix N. Stefanile Harold Witt Villiers Publications 1952

Continuity notes

Part of the shared Anthologies and Documents collection. The volume complements the site's California and Los Angeles poetry holdings while retaining its broader national scope.

Edition note

The complete anthology was reset from the 72-page local scan. The correction pass removed running headers and OCR debris, repaired gutter-clipped initial letters, restored missing lines and titles, rejoined typographical word wraps, and retained the original page sequence, stanza divisions, supported indentation, historical spelling, and unusual period usage. The cover uses eight offset vertical bands, one for each poet, joined by a single traversing line. Its geometry and muted ink colors draw on mid-century small-press design without copying the original wrapper. The source scan remains private editorial evidence and is not part of the upload package.

Source note

Metadata, contributor names, sequence, wording, lineation, indentation, original introduction, and acknowledgments were checked against the 72-page local scan. Printed pages 8–68 contain the poetry sequence. Because the source binding obscures opening characters on many verso pages, three OCR passes and direct inspection of 300-dpi page images were used during reconstruction.

Rights and citation

Copyright notice

Permissions for the original publication and individual works are pending. Copyright in new editorial matter and design © 2026 Brian Kim Stefans.

Rights status

Permissions Pending

Rights basis

Permissions review is in progress and is being handled separately by the project owner.

Suggested citation

May, James Boyer, ed. Eight American Poets. Villiers Publications, 1952. Text/Tech Anthologies and Documents, reader’s edition, 2026.