an anthology -

This collection of poetry has over five hundred authors

and contains over nine hundred poems received and edited

during the first half of 1980. Every state in the United

States is represented with accepted poetry. The authors are

located in the following geographical sections "of the book

respective to where they live; Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South

& Gulf, Midwest, Northwest, and Southwest.

This is our first edition of high school student

poetry. It has been our job to choose the poems, inevitably

some instead of others, and to design and publish the book.

Our connection has been ~hrough the many high schools that

the students attend, however, we are pleased to say that the

poetry is truly of their own making.

To our knowledge this book is exceptional in its scope

and breadth to reach so far and wide for so many young writers

to gather together, to be seen as one presence, and to

complete for them something indeed necessary and valuable.

We realize that this is-not our book at all, but rather

belongs to these five hundred authors who have agreed to

have published some of the substance of their living - at

times funny, naive, pretentious, hopeful, and occasionally

defeated.

Many, many in this collection are trying to make

"poetry." They have all the parts but like the "tin man" in

"OZ" they haven't found the heart of it yet. They are

sometimes too imitating or patterned, but risking to tell us

something - and that is the commitment. Most of these you

will recognize.

Some, however, have looked way inside with no obvious

effort and strung words together like laundry out to dry,

fresh, exposed, and ready to be seen