Mississippi

State Poet Laureate

In 1963, Mississippi established a state poet laureate position, which is currently held by Ann Fisher-Wirth, who was appointed to a four-year term in 2025.

Type	Title	State
Literary Organization	Mississippi Cultural Crossroads	Mississippi
Literary Organization	The Mississippi Writers Page	Mississippi
Writing Program	Mississippi State University	Mississippi
Writing Program	University of Mississippi	Mississippi
Writing Program	University of Southern Mississippi Center for Writers	Mississippi
Literary Magazine	Black Magnolias	Mississippi
Literary Magazine	The Jabberwock Review	Mississippi
Literary Magazine	Mississippi Review	Mississippi
Literary Magazine	Yalobusha Review	Mississippi
Poetry-Friendly Bookstore	Cover to Cover Books	Mississippi

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Nor the strip of light between the slats, the window itself blind with grief. Nor the bench where the last mourner lingers, the others on to the next thing, leaning into the bar, toasting the sweethearts, gone and gone, their passion and ire softening now into the earth. Nor the bluff above the Mississippi where centuries of war dead rest, where the stone stands bearing their names, the wind of romance hard against it.

Holly Iglesias

2010

1

    No, I don't know

the way to get there.
    Two empty suitcases sit in the corner,
if that's any kind of clue.

2

    This spring night,

everyone at the party
    younger than me
except for one man.
    We give each other the secret password.

3

    Tears? Of course, but also the marsh grass

near the Mississippi:
    your whispers and mine,
and the dog's long contented sighs.

Jim Moore

2011

My parents come from a place where all the houses stop
at one story

for the heat. Where every porch—front
and back—simmers in black screens that sieve

mosquitoes from our blood. Where everyone knows
there’s only one kind of tea:

served sweet. The first time my father
introduced my mother to his parents,

his mother made my mother change
the bed sheets in the guest room. She’d believed it

a gesture of intimacy. My grandmother
saved lavender hotel soaps and lotions

to wrap and mail as gifts at Christmas. My grandfather

Anna Journey

2013

Poetry Near You

Mississippi

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Beth Ann Fennelly

Ann Fisher-Wirth

Liz Waldner

Poetry Near You

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Mississippi

Recent & Featured Listings

Beth Ann Fennelly

Ann Fisher-Wirth

Liz Waldner

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