Knowing America through Poetry ~ LOUISIANA ~ by rldubour

Monday!!! on the road again to visit our next great state! (in alpha order)

 

Knowing America through Poetry

LOUISIANA

The original name was Luisiana

The Spanish version of Louisiana.

In honor of King Louis the fourteenth

To live on this land they called nirvana.

The Motto of this state is

“Union, Justice and Confidence.”

Nicknamed the Pelican State

Because of their great abundance.

The state’s flower is the magnolia

And the official crustacean is the crawfish.

Of course the official bird is the Pelican

While the state’s tree is the Bald Cypress.

The amphibian is the green frog

The official insect is the honey bee.

The alligator and the black bear

Either one are best to just let them be!

The “Mardi Gras” an ancient custom

Of southern Europe’s fun and cuisine.

And the first Tarzan movie ever filmed

Was in Louisiana in nineteen-seventeen.

When this state was officially named

The people were called Louisianans.

In Lafayette in the mid-seventeen hundreds

The French were called Acadians.

The Superdome in New Orleans is the

Largest dome with not one unobstructed post

And The Special Olympics International Games

It was Baton Rouge, who was the host.

Mamou, the Cajun music capital of the world

From all points they come to play their songs.

And Metairie is home to the longest bridge

Over Water at twenty-four miles long!

The New Orleans and Carrolliton line

Is the oldest street railroad still in operation.

And Julia “Pansy” Rule drove in the gold spike

Of the Pacific Railroad completion.

Famous names again, some you may have seen

Huey, Newton, Truman Capote and Geoffrey Beene.

Gumbel, Stewart, Al Hirt and Louis Armstrong

DeBakey, Jackson and John James Audubon.

Statehood, April 30, 1812 the18th state

Capital is Baton Rouge