The city of Sedona and the Community Library Sedona are seeking applicants for Sedona’s inaugural Poet Laureate.
Potential poets need to submit up to 10 pages of their original poetry by Wednesday, March 19.
Sedona has had a long history of preeminent poets in the community. I first came to Sedona as an adult to compete in poetry slams hosted by the late Chris Lane after having been on the Flagstaff National Poetry Slam Team with him in 2001. I later moved to Sedona in 2004 to help Lane run the newly-formed NORAZ Poets nonprofit. At the time, there was already an established community of older writers who hosted writing workshops and featured readings around town.
Poetry slams brought a new modern energy to the ancient art form of poetry performances, which date back millennia.
Rhapsodes would travel around ancient Greece as far back as the 4th and 5th centuries BCE, performing epic poems about Hellenic gods and heroes. Scops and skalds did the same in northern Europe with Old English and Old Norse poetry, respectively. While students nowadays read the Old English poem “The Dream of the Rood” or the Old Norse “Poetic Edda” on the page, translated into modern English, epic poems were meant to be performed to a live audience, all from memory, before the written word had been adapted for literary use.
So an Angle celebrating in a hlaford’s longhouse in the eighth century would surround a fire with his or her neighbors would hear a trained poet shout, “Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon … ” and revel in the warrior tale of Beowulf.
The term “poet laureate” in English dates from the appointment of French Augustinian friar Bernard André by Henry VII of England, while the formal office of Poet Laureate of England dates from the appointment of John Dryden by King Charles II in 1668. The American poet laureate position was created in 1937 as the “Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress,” which was later renamed the “poet laureate” by an act of Congress in 1985.
Arizona’s first and current poet laureate, Alberto Ríos, an Arizona State University professor, has made numerous visits to Sedona, bringing a love of the art form to audiences.
I have close friends in the poetry slam community who are poets laureate in Flagstaff, Phoenix, San Antonio, Texas, Providence, R.I., and Albuquerque, N.M., and what they bring to their relative positions is not just an appreciation for poetry or a formality to an event, but of sincere love of place. While their work is not hagiographic and they don’t pull punches when necessary, their work tends to capture the breadth and diversity of thought and experience of their communities and a sense of hope that even when a city or region faces struggles or tragedies, that their community can pull together to overcome those hardships.
The idea of having a poet laureate in Sedona came from Rex Arrasmith, who suggesed it to Sedona Arts and Culture Specialist Nancy Lattanzi and library Executive Director Judy Poe.
The three asked me to join the judging committee, along with city Finance Director Barbara Whitehorn, Sedona Red Rock High School English teacher Jill Swaninger and library Assistant Director Tasha Spuches. As the longtime host of the Sedona Poetry Slam for the last 16 years, I was more than happy to join the group.
We encourage residents to apply and submit their work to be considered for this honor.
Poets don’t need to have competed in poetry slams or be published or work full-time as a poet. They just need to have quality work, reside within the Sedona-Oak Creek School District boundaries, be in Sedona for at least six months of the year or show a strong relationship to Sedona if they live outside the SOCSD area. To avoid any possible favoritism or name recognition, the poems will be submitted to our committee anonymously, so we’ll just be judging the works on the merits of the art, not the author.
One adult and one youth poet will serve two-year terms as poets laureate. Both poets laureate will be expected to give up to four public readings per year, which will be a combination of events at the library and events around the city, composing poems for community events and ceremonial occasions as requested by the city or the library. The poets will also be asked to provide poetry workshops for area schools and pursue a literary project with an emphasis on outreach and education, in addition to community and work on other outreach projects.
While Lane was famous for saying, “You can’t spell ‘poet’ without po — ’” the city will pay the adult poet laureate a stipend of $2,000 for the term, while the junior poet laureate will receive a scholarship, plus per diem costs for school outreach and workshops. I’ll be speaking to SRRHS students next week in the hopes of getting some junior poets to apply.
After all, “Sedona junior poet laureate” will look amazing on a college entrance application.
The finalists will perform and be scored at four different consecutive events in April. The committee and additional judges, will vote on the finalists, with the final two applicants being appointed to their posts by the Sedona City Council in May. Visit communitylibrarysedona.org/poet-laureate for all the guidelines and email your work by 5 p.m. on March 19 to tspuches@communitylibrarysedona.org.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
