I’ve been looking at some David V. Bush poetry, Poetry of Mastery and Love Verse (1922). Probably largely ghosted by Lovecraft, who had been doing extensive ghosting of poetry and prose for Bush since 1920.
This essay has been replaced by my new book of revised, expanded, and footnoted versions of my recent Tentaclii essays, Lovecraft in Historical Context: fifth collection.
Interesting timing-wise. That’s about the period the Herbert West serial was done. I wonder which was composed first — the work for Bush or the West stories? In the background of West was the war-time surgical work that would evoke similar images to those explicit in the poem.
Could be. Herbert West was “October 1921 to mid- June 1922” according to the HLP Ency.