For the first time ever, the City of Sedona, in conjunction with the Sedona Community Library, named two official poet laureates in the spring of 2025. Gary Every will serve a two-year term as Sedona’s poet laureate. Gary started writing when he was young. In college, he would introduce himself to other people by saying, “Give me two words, and I’ll write you a poem. I’m kind of shy. It was a good way for me to open up and meet people,” he says. His writing history is fairly diverse. He’s written both fiction and science fiction. He’s authored over 10 books and also performs and teaches. Gary also has a radio program called Poetry and Prose. It airs every Sunday morning starting at 6:30 a.m. on Mellow Mountain Radio. During this show, he typically interviews local authors about their work. He was chosen as poet laureate after a committee reviewed his work and watched him perform a few pieces. He sees poetry as a critical art form.
“Poetry is kind of enjoying a renaissance right now, and a lot of that has to do with social media. People are just getting used to sound bites and shorter bursts of art, and poetry is really benefiting from that,” he says. As poet laureate, he sometimes speaks at various occasions. He recently spoke at a groundbreaking for an affordable housing project. He’ll be participating in a reading series called Verses in the Village at Tlaquepaque Arts & Shopping Village. The last one will be held on Oct. 15 at the Patio de las Campanas patio. What’s it like being Sedona’s first poet laureate? “A little overwhelming. I gotta live up to it,” he says. “It’s not just me being the poet laureate, but I’m their poet laureate. I want the community to have some ownership of this as well.” He’s resided in Sedona for 20 years. When he first arrived, the city had a pretty vibrant poetry scene. He’d love to see it revived.
“I want to create a community of voices where we both speak and listen to each other. I want to create a congregation of literature,” he says. “People often say that they don’t like poetry or they’re not familiar with it, but every time we have major events in our life – whether it’s a wedding or a high school graduation or a funeral or times of crisis – you often discover people reciting lines of poetry at these important emotional moments and milestones in our lives, and I think it shows just how important poetry is.” – Teresa K. Traverse
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