Starting today, the words and melodies of Missouri are going to get a proper showcase.

The Missouri Verses and Voices Festival, an event that highlights Missouri poets and composers both past and present, will have multiple activities starting at 6 p.m. this evening and Tuesday at Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church, 5505 Frederick Blvd.

Now in its second year, Missouri Verses and Voices was conceived as an educational program by co-founders Mary Ann Haenni, Dr. David Benz and Missouri’s first poet laureate, Walter Bargen. Through multiple artistic events, the festival puts a focus on the creative work in both poetry and music from Missouri.

“We look at a lot of global issues and global meaning and global music and ... We kind of don’t look at what’s right around us anymore like we used to,” Mr. Benz said. “Missouri, I think, is a uniquely active voice. Creative voice.”

Students at area middle and high schools have created pieces of art based on the state’s poetic works that will be displayed during the festival’s art exhibition and competition, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. this evening and Tuesday. Immediately following the art exhibition this evening will be the Verses Alive! interpretive reading contest, where students will do their own interpretations of Mr. Bargen’s poetry and compete for the State Poet Laureate and First Lady Awards.

The festivities Tuesday conclude with the festival’s concert at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $10. It features choirs from area high schools, the Griffon Junior Singers, the St. Joseph Community Chorus Chamber Choir and the Missouri Western Concert Chorale, which will each perform a song from a Missouri composer and poet.

Ms. Haenni said this year’s Missouri Verses and Voices Festival has already made significant development in its sophomore year of existence.

“It’s really grown from this little kind of dream that we had, and it’s moving quite fast and furious,” she said.

Mr. Bargen, along with nationally awarded composer and poet Amy Beth Kirsten and the Verses Alive! recipients, will recite their works for the audience. Missouri’s first poet laureate will keep himself busy away from the festival by speaking to students at area high schools each afternoon. Through his work and the Missouri Verses and Voices Festival, he hopes students can see the artistic value of their area’s writers and performers and it can push them toward their own creative pursuits.

“It opens up new worlds to them,” Mr. Bargen said. “They come to realize that poetry and literature offer them perspective and opportunites to explore their own world and make their own discoveries.”

For more information on Missouri Verses and Voices, go to www.versesandvoices.org.

Blake Hannon can be reached

at blakehannon@npgco.com.