Ed Skoog is making a stop at Wichita State to work with graduate students in the writing program.

Skoog is a distinguished poet who has published two collections of poetry: “Mister Skylight” (2009) and “Rough Day” (2013). After earning his bachelor’s degree in English at Kansas State University, he received an MFA at Montana University. He went on to teach creative writing at the high school and college level.

Skoog will also be a part of WSU’s Writing Now/Reading Now series this Thursday, when he will read new material. He is a native Kansan from Topeka.

Skoog has been immersed in the world of poetry since the age of nine. 

“It just feels natural,” Skoog said. “The whole point of language is to speak in poetry; at times we do, but I like to every day.”

In Topeka, Skoog didn’t realize his youth was spent in such a poetic community.  Eventually, some of Skoog’s peers such as Ben Lerner, Kevin Young and Eric McHenry would emerge as successful poets from the area. 

“We lived in more or less the same neighborhood and competed in debate, forensics and speech,” Skoog said, “but we never shared poetry until coming home from college.”

Skoog’s first published poetry was “Mister Skylight” in 2009. Mister Skylight is a dated nautical phrase used to alert the crew of a ship in the case of an emergency, without letting passengers know.

Hurricane Katrina inspired Skoog to write the piece. After living in New Orleans for nine years, Skoog left just two months before the storm hit.

 “Whether it be city, state or federal, the voice of authority and official language are always hiding something,” Skoog said.

These events taught Skoog a lesson about poetry and its importance to society and culture. 

“I thought the poet had no role or freedom in society,” Skoog said. “I thought art for art’s sake was adequate.”

  Skoog got to witness some of the rebuilding of New Orleans, which led him to see poetry and its role in a new light.

“There’s a list and near the top are plumbers and electricians,” he said. “We need those.  We wouldn’t make it without them. Somewhere far down on that list, there’s a place for dance, painting and writing. Poetry and imagination have real roles in holding a town together.”

Whereas Skoog’s first collection is about panic and chaos, “Rough Day”continues Skoogs’s train of thought to the next stage in a “patient and meditative book-length poem.” The focus of his second collection is rebuilding after rapture, individually and societally. After dealing with the loss of his mother and witnessing the rebuilding of the people of New Orleans, Skoog noticed a common theme.

 “One thing I observed with people I’ve known is there is not much of a difference between our healing and rebuilding,” Skoog said. “Time passes and we adapt in similar ways; but there are always disruptions.”

This Thursday night’s Writing Now/Reading Now series with Skoog will be held at 6 p.m. at the Ulrich Museum of Art. A reception begins at 5:30 p.m. and refreshments will be served. Skoog said he will perform new material about embarrassment and how it is different than shame and can lead us to transformation.

“Shame is something that is kind of in the public eye, but embarrassment is different,” Skoog said. “I’m embarrassed about a lot of things; I’m embarrassed to be from Kansas sometimes [because of] some of the legislations and people like the Phelps family. Sometimes I’m embarrassed because I don’t know the right shoes to wear.”