From Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest. Available Now!

*Mizzou*

In 1911, the Mizzou family came home
&
Gave the United States Homecoming.
The rallies of school spirit that have sprinted through
America’s high schools and universities are tracked
to the same footprints:
A Streak of Tigers.
Tigers that have fought Jayhawks since the mid-19th century
in an ongoing Border War that spanned over 100 years on battlefields and football fields…
Until in 2011, 100 years after the Tigers came home,
We won the Border Showdown once and for all.
Final Score: 57-54-9.
Our victory laps can be witnessed among the M of Faurot Field and the gym of Mizzou Arena. Our earned stripes
are defended in all arenas of contest, and worn
warmly in a Homecoming that
Shames the rest.

Our Mizzou,
How We Miss You.

The Tigers who have prowled out of Columbia have
Left the undying marks of their hearts.
But they still miss their home—
and our Homecoming.
They miss giving their blood—following the steps of their hearts,
Granting endangered lives with a new start.
They miss the talent show before the big game,
And the Day of Service where we gave in our name.
Dear and lasting are the decorations of laughter
That adorned the spirit rally, and the parade—the night after.
Missouri Gold and Black is packed in a timeless two-week ball,
And after tailgating,
It is time for football.

We could prowl through another hundred years
Just for the chance to relive this field.

Mizzou,
Oh
How We Miss You.

Feels like just yesterday when we walked through the iconic Ionic columns of Columbia.
The columns that fire could not destroy,
instead they remain standing tall like the dome of Jesse Hall.
We leaped to uncover the patchwork that is the deep beauty of this campus landscape:
A botanic garden with deep burgundy hawthorn fruit and us—the blooming youth.
Free to tell of the beauty of Virginia bluebells and the sweet shrubs nature gave near Thomas Jefferson’s grave.
We were the butterflies that sighed love’s velocity into Peace Park,
and lifted our varsity
Way Beyond the Arc:

M-I-Z!!!

It’s good.

Z-O-U!!!

The Fighting Tigers of Columbia have been tapped into secret societies of influence as a conduit to a better Missouri—A richer story. Seeping into what is already a community of tradition, energy innovation, and firsts.

The first university to introduce journalism into the curriculum and continue to make media-journalism advancements—including advancements to the only university-owned TV network affiliate, KOMU.

The first to use a tomato to fight prostate cancer.

The first to bring our alumni back home….

And we’re all tied for first in the race to return.

Our Mizzou,
Oh
How We Miss You.

Come Homecoming,
We are coming back home…

We are the archers of the spring & the fall; the marchers through the gardens en route to the halls.
Walmart developed in Cornell Hall, and in all, hundreds of thousands
Helped to knit
The fabric of the Mizzou Culture
With a cameo from Brad Pitt.
In Lafferre, Engineers have the luck of the Irish
and are destined to marry when the shamrock is crossed,
Then walk the aisle over to the MURR center,
Where with the nation’s best reactor:
No power is loss.
We charge the Quad with Midwestern pleasantry,
The niceness and smiles only found in Missouri,
Because there is but only
One Mizzou—
Where fond hearts and beauty
Will forever roam;
Like Sheryl Crow and the Tigers who left to mark the globe,

We are on the Long Road Home.

Follow ClydeAidoo.com for sample poems from the Alma Mater and Art of Mind series. You can purchase the newly released Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast, a poetic celebration of the top universities of the Northeast below.