The Walt Whitman Birthplace Association (WWBA) Board of Trustees and I congratulate the student poets in this anthology for their writing excellence! Each student internalized Whitman's poetic sentiments of Song of the Open Road and created a unique response shaped in their own free verse poetry. We invite you to step into their world through the vision, words, and images of the honorees of our 38th Annual 2024 Student Poetry Writing Contest.