Welcome back to the Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios.

I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Wednesday, January 10th, 2024.

Today's poem is one of the most widely anthologized poems in the English language.

In fact, one commentator called it,

quote, the most quoted poem in 20th century America

after the night before Christmas, end quote.

And yet, this may be a poem that you've never heard of or encountered.

Its popularity and ubiquity have declined somewhat in the last century.

It was written in 1895.

The poem is by American writer and humorist Gillette Burgess, and it's called The Purple Cow.

It's quite brief. I'll have ample time to read it more than once.

But there's a enjoyable story that goes along with the history of this poem, which I relate

in a moment. Here is the purple cow. I never saw a purple cow.

I never hoped to see one.

But I can tell you, anyhow, I'd rather see than be one.

This poem was first published in Burgess's own magazine, The Lark, in its inaugural issue.

In fact, unfortunately for Burgess, it quickly overshadowed anything else he had written or would go on to write, becoming his most popular

piece of writing and really taking on a life of its own to the point where it eventually

began to pass through oral tradition without any credit or reference to Burgess.

Burgess reportedly became so angry and resentful about the popularity of the purple cow that several years later,

he wrote a follow-up poem to the purple cow.

I'll read his original poem one more time and then close out with his answer to the purple cow.

...