Building a book like this takes a significant amount of time, effort, and patience, but what a joy it has been. I was privileged to have Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda and Sofia Starnes, both former Poets Laureate of Virginia, as teammates through the more difficult phases of the endeavor: collecting, reviewing, selecting, editing, and assembling the manuscript. Also, I relied on the backing and support of PSV President, Terry Cox-Joseph, who wrote the Preface, an important ingredient of the book. The expertise and guidance of our publisher, Jeanne Johansen, of High Tide Publications, would take us successfully across the finish line.
The Centennial Anthology contains several sections. Part One consists of the poetry of 110 contemporary poets, while Part Two features poems by 36 poets from six previous PSV anthologies. The four appendices provide (A) information regarding previous PSV Presidents, (B) the contributions of the various Poets Laureate of Virginia, (C) brief biographies of the participating poets, and (D) acknowledgments of prior publication of the poems. The Table of Contents lists the poets alphabetically.
I hope that all who pick up this book will drink deeply of the beauty, talent, and creativity that our poets have placed at your disposal. We are proud to have it represent a poetic standard for the next one hundred years of The Poetry Society of Virginia.
Edward W. Lull
Editor