If you like poetry or just need an excuse to visit the State Capitol, this Thursday is your night.

The State Library is sponsoring a Poet Meets Poet event featuring Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken and National Student Poet Miles Hewitt. The free gathering begins at 6 p.m. in the Legislative Building’s Columbia Room, located on the first floor. Doors open at 5:30.

Flenniken became State Poet Laureate early this year. Hewitt, a senior at the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, was named West Region National Student Poet this fall at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. He is among five high school students nationwide who have been appointed as the inaugural class of literary ambassadors for the National Student Poets Program.