Missouri and Kansas not only have state birds, state flowers, and state trees – for many years, they’ve also had poets laureate. David Harrison currently serves as Missouri’s poet laureate. Traci Brimhall fills the role in Kansas.

In a conversation moderated by Kansas City’s first poet laureate, Melissa Ferrer-Civil, Harrison and Brimhall discuss the importance of poetry and their states’ poet laureate programs, what their roles entail, and what they’ve encountered travelling around Missouri and Kansas.

Harrison is the author of 23 books of poetry, 43 books of fiction, 23 books of nonfiction, and 18 books for classroom teachers. He expects to publish three more this year. Brimhall teaches creative writing at Kansas State University and has published five collections of poetry.