We’re off to Mississippi where cotton is snow
in the summertime. Mockingbirds sing sweet songs
all year long. Magnolias scent the air.
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, barefoot boys floating
on a raft down an intense brown muddy Mississippi
playing Jacks. Here comes the Greenville crowd
on a pilgrimage to Biloxi for the blessing of the fleet.
Look, the Muppets, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy!
Bert and Ernie, too!
Off to celebrate the shrimp festivals, fairs, music celebrations
everywhere. In the fragrant moonlight in notable Mississippi,
we decided to have a party under a flowering magnolia tree singing,
“Go Mississippi.”
Hear the steamboat’s whistles blow, and the river flows on.
Vincent J. Tomeo is a poet, archivist, historian and community activist. Thirty-two years a New York City public high school teache. Teacher of American history. He volunteers at the 9/11 Tribute Center Museum at Ground Zero. He is published in the New YorkTtimes, Comstock Review, Mid-America Poetry Review, and others.
