My Favorite Poems: I Am Lousiana

Day 167 (Written Sunday May 27) ~ I won’t rehash my love of Louisiana, there are plenty of my blog entries that explain all of that. But I did want to share with you one of my favorite poems, written by Paul Ott, that just happens to be the state cultural poem of Louisiana (adopted in 2006). It tells so many of the things that I too love about the best money the U.S. government ever spent. I'm Spanish moss on a live oak tree
Cajun fried shrimp and a cypress knee.
I'm Bienville, Captain Shreve, Beauregard, Zack Taylor and Jean Lafitte.
I'm New Orleans, the land of dreams Creole cookin' and a Mardi Gras king.
I'm a thoroughbred racin' at Louisiana Downs,
Avery Island and a Catahoula hound.
I'm the Louisiana Hayride and the birth of the blues,
The Evangeline, Chickory Coffee and Baton Rouge.
I'm when the Saints Go Marchin' In the Superdome,
The Atchafalaya and an old plantation home.
I'm jambalaya, a catfish fry and a filet gumbo,
A sugar cane patch, Pete Fountain, French Quarter and Satchmo.
Well, I'm the Mississippi River as it rounds the bend.
I am Louisiana. Ya'll Come Back Again.