We recently had the honor of being a compilers of an anthology, THE ONSET OF JUVENILE. We aimed to collect the words of different people from the different parts of our country. Being the editors of an anthology aimed at giving voice to a diverse community of people, we plunged into our labor of love with passion and determination. Along the winding road to publication, we learned that anthologies are often overlooked or viewed as less worthy than other genres. Although many anthologies transcend this reputation in sales and literary merit, publishers and booksellers often say that readers buy books because of their dedication to a specific author, or perceive compilations as potentially containing more misses than hits. Inspired rather than defeated by this information, we set out to compile an honest representation of our own anthology through wonderful Co- Authors and their poems-each one of them, in our view, a "hit." We wanted the reader to be blown away by the writing, and by the heart and the breadth of experience shared by more as much as they can