Editing Clark Ashton Smith (section)

===Health breakdown period===
A little later, Smith's health broke down and for eight years his literary production was intermittent, though he produced his best poetry during this period. A small volume, ''Odes and Sonnets'', was brought out in 1918. Smith came into contact with literary figures who would later form part of H.P. Lovecraft's circle of correspondents; Smith knew them far earlier than Lovecraft. These figures include poet [[Samuel Loveman]] and bookman George Kirk. It was Smith who in fact later introduced [[Donald Wandrei]] to Lovecraft. For this reason, it has been suggested that Lovecraft might as well be referred to as a member of a "Smith" circle as Smith was a member of a Lovecraft one.<ref>Schultz & Connors 2003, p. xix</ref>

In 1920 Smith composed a celebrated long poem in [[blank verse]], ''The Hashish Eater, or The Apocalypse of Evil'', published in ''[[Ebony and Crystal]]'' (1922).<ref>{{cite book|last=Smith |first=Clark Ashton |title=Ebony and Crystal: Poems in Verse and Prose |year=1922 |location=[[Auburn, California]]}}</ref> This was followed by a fan letter from [[H. P. Lovecraft]], which was the beginning of 15 years of friendship and correspondence. With studied playfulness, Smith and Lovecraft borrowed each other's coinages of place names and the names of strange gods for their stories, though so different is Smith's treatment of the Lovecraft theme that it has been dubbed the "Clark Ashton Smythos."<ref>Murray 1990</ref>

In 1925 Smith published ''Sandalwood'', which was partly funded by a gift of $50 from [[Donald Wandrei]]. He wrote little fiction in this period with the exception of some imaginative vignettes or [[prose poem]]s. Smith was poor for most of his life and often did hard manual jobs such as fruit picking and [[Logging|woodcutting]] to support himself and his parents. He was an able cook and made many kinds of wine. He also did well digging, typing and journalism, as well as contributing a column to ''[[Auburn Journal|The Auburn Journal]]'' and sometimes worked as its night editor.<ref>de Camp 1976, p. 203</ref>

One of Smith's artistic patrons and frequent correspondents was San Francisco businessman [[Albert Bender (art patron)|Albert Bender]].