The Spicer Circle magazine M appeared in 1962 in the period after J and before Open Space. Edited by poets Lew Ellingham and Stan Persky, the magazine published John Allen Ryan, George Stanley, Heinrich von Kleist (translated by Jim Herndon), Robin Blaser, William McNeill, Jack Moore, Gail Chugg, Bob Conner, David Melville and the editors. Ellingham spent years researching a biography of Spicer, which was eventually co-authored with poet Kevin Killian as Poet Be Like God (Wesleyan, 1998).
M, No. 1, edited by Lew Ellingham and Stan Persky
San Francisco: M, Spring 1962
First edition, side-stapled illustrated wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, 64 pages, mimeograph printed.
“Contributions may be sent to 4 Harwood Alley of c/o ‘M’ at Gino & Carlo’s Bar, 548 Green Street, San Francisco 11. There is a box in the bar to receive contributions, and the bartender will hold any too large to be placed in the box.”
- Contents:
- George Stanley – [untitled] “Not speaking in human speech…”
Lewis Ellingham – “Essays on Six Subjects”
Gail Chugg – “The Avenging Angel”
anonymous – “The River Bed”
Stan Persky – “Orpheus Under the Golden Gate Bridge”
George Stanley – “The Death of Orpheus”
Gail Chugg – “A Romantical Poem for Leigh Hunt”
Stan Persky – “Lake”
Gail Chugg – “The Spell Binders”
George Stanley – “The Great Wall of Canada”
anonymous – “The Eagle & The Sperm Whale”
anonymous – “Alaska, The Beautiful”
anonymous – “Change”
Stan Persky – “Twenty Years After”
Bob Conner – “To an Archaic Apollo”
anonymous – “The Commendatory”
anonymous – “The Guardians”
anonymous – “The Stone Statue”
Gail Chugg – “A Poem of Granite for Lew”
Stan Persky – “The Western Buildings”
Robin Blaser – “The Faerie Queene”
George Stanley – “The Crazy Bartender”
John Allen Ryan – “Fresco IV”
Jack Moore – [untitled] “I try at times…”
Wm McNeill – “Unyielding Demands”
Wm McNeill – “Kyoto: A Dream on the Banks of Two Rivers”
Bill McNeil – “By Heian’s Gate”
John Allen Ryan – “Convict Creek”
John Allen Ryan – “Second Annie Poem”
Heinrich von Kleist, trans. Jim Herndon – “On The Marionette Theatre”
David Melville – “Dop Dop Dop”
- George Stanley – [untitled] “Not speaking in human speech…”
M, No. 2, edited by Lew Ellingham
San Francisco: M, 1962
First edition, side-stapled illustrated wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, 48 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover illustration by Paul Alexander.
“This is the second issue, published on a summer holiday.”
- Contents:
- Bill Roberts – “The Dwarf’s Handshake”
Jim Alexander – [untitled] “Promytheus wd hav askd…”
Larry Fagin – [untitled] “Though we come back…”
Helen Adam – “Memory”
Jack Flynn – “Jed”
Ruben Dario, trans. John Allen Ryan – “Cleopompa and Heliodemus”
Stan Persky – “The Astronomer”
Larry Fagin – “For Bill”
Ebbe Borregaard – “October Seventh Poem”
Jim Alexander – “Melody of Triumverates”
Bill Roberts – “The Tower and the Cross”
John Allen Ryan – “The Gleaners”
Tony Sherrod – [untitled] “Beneath one thigh…”
Parker Hodges – “Irresistably, the Birds”
Lewis Ellingham – “Poem for S.”
Larry Fagin – [untitled] “No don’t dead hide my dying giving…”
- Bill Roberts – “The Dwarf’s Handshake”