GATEWAY: Gulfport Poets

Gateway: Gulfport Poets features the work of 12 hometown poets and was edited by Gulfport Poet Laureate Peter Hargitai.

Hargitai, a retired professor of English, who lectured at Miami University and Florida International, became Gulfport's first poet laureate in 2015, chosen from a field of 19 candidates by the Circle of Friends of the Gulfport Public Library. They chose him again after a blind reading, this time for a three-year term after a rule change that allowed poets laureate more time to achieve their goals. While his tenure has ended, his plans for the book have been in place for some time.

The book's cover features a quintessential Gulfport scene by photographer Larry Busby. Many of the poems included in "Gateway" have a strong Florida theme, but the styles, influences and subjects vary. Hargitai calls the book a rich and diverse poetic terrain. 

Henderson, who served as Gulfport Poet Laureate from 2017-2018, contributes seven poems including "Comango Pond"; Spina visits one of Gulfport's most popular locations in "In Clam Bayou"; Michael Arthur Taylor explores Florida politics in "A Lawton Chiles Eulogy"; Ellen Noto dips into popular culture, dedicating her poem, "Like the Color When Spring is Born" to "Joni M."