I Am Mississippi

I Am Mississippi

I'm the land of the Choctaw
The hills of Vicksburg, and a cross-cut saw

Dinner on the ground and a muscadine vine
I'm a longleaf pine, and Mississippi's on my mind

I'm a banjo pickin' and all night sings
Azaleas a 'bloomin' in Ocean Springs

I'm a Gospel Singer and the old folks at home
And I'm the eagle on the top of the capitol's dome

I'm coffee in the morning and an ole smoked ham
Cathead biscuits and blackberry jam

I'm a Mississippi moon, a dusty Delta Dawn,
B. B. King, Magnolias in bloom

I'm an antebellum home on the Natchez Trace,
A rusty plow on the old home place

I'm Walter Payton catchin' a pass, Elvis Presley,
Coon hounds and bird dogs and tea of Sassafras

I'm Miss Mississippi and all her glory
I'm William Faulkner as he writes a story
I'm Jimmie Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman
John C. Stennis, a southern statesman

I'm the Mississippi River as it rounds the bend
I'm Gone with the Wind, y'all come back again

Well, I'm everything good you have ever dreamed about
Hush yo' mouth, I'm Mississippi
I am the South

~~Paul Ott

This is the poem/song that is proposed to be the official state poem. Some feel like it is not well written or express the state well. Make your own decision.