MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2000 Regular Session

To: Education

By: Representatives Montgomery (15th), Cummings, Franks, Holland, Miles, Moss, Rushing, Shows, Ward

AN ACT TO CREATE A NEW CODE SECTION TO BE CODIFIED AS SECTION 3-3-34, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DESIGNATE "MY MISSISSIPPI" AS THE OFFICIAL STATE POEM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. The following shall be codified as section 3-3-34, Mississippi Code of 1972:

3-3-34. The poem "My Mississippi," by Nancy Logan Cossey, copyrighted 1999, is hereby designated as the State Poem of Mississippi. The poem reads as follows:

I live in Mississippi, the great Magnolia state

I live in Mississippi, because the state is great

It's southern fried chicken, and sweet potato pie

I live in Mississippi, Let me tell you why

It's full of lots of mystery and sleepy little towns

All day singings and dinner on the ground

It's azaleas in the springtime and pecans in the fall

It's Sunday morning church, good neighbors out on call

It's William Faulkner, Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Clower and Marcel

It's a history lesson for John Grisham to tell

It's Elvis Presley, B.B. King, and Charley Pride

Pickin' and a Grinnin' in good ole southern stride

It's the Choctaw Indians and Huckleberry Finn

Mighty steamboats comin' yonder round the bend

It's moonlight and magnolias, blackberries on the vine

It's watermelon under a shade tree in the lazy summer time

It's poke salad, turnip greens, purple hulls, and potatoes

Butterbeans, collards, onions, and fried green tomatoes

It's working in the garden, choppin' with a hoe

It's worth all the effort to make things grow

It's okra, cornbread, fat back, teacakes by the dozens

Grandma, Grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins

It's good ole home cookin' and front porch swings

It's coming to the table when the dinner bell rings

It's shrimp, crappie, catfish, and bass

"Is this paradise?" a fisherman might ask

It's hunting deer, dove, turkey and quail

It's watching the coondogs catch 'em by the tail

It's my Mississippi, the best state in the south

It's God's country, "shut my mouth"

It's crooked letters and humpbacks and it ends in an i

It's my Mississippi can you see why?

I love my Mississippi don't you see

I love my Mississippi it will always be

My Mississippi"

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2000.