riley's alcoholism influenced some of his poems during his time working for the "journal". these included "on quitting california", "john golliher's third womern", "[sic]" and "the dismal fate of tit", which each refer to the delirium caused by drinking. although riley rarely published anything controversial, some of his poems published from the same period, including "afterwhiles", allude to drug usage and make vague sexual references. during the early 1880s, riley still made submissions to the elite literary periodicals, but continued to be rejected. riley found this discouraging, but persevered. he believed he would never be recognized as a true literary figure until one of the prestigious periodicals published his work.