Hello and welcome to the Daily Poem. I'm Heidi White, filling in for David Kern, and today is Wednesday, August 26th. Today's poem is by an American poet named Louise Bogan, who was indeed born in August, which is in keeping of our poetry selections this month on the Daily Poem, which have mainly been poets born during this month.

Apparently, this is a big month to be born if you are a poet.

So for you aspiring poets out there, if you were born in August, you're already ahead of the game.

Keep writing.

Louise Bogan was born in 1897.

She died in 1970, known for her commitment to

formal elements and traditional forms in her poetry. Of course, the modern period in the 20th

century was known for poets breaking with traditional forms. And this free verse and spoken word poetry was very popular during this time.

But Louise Bogan wanted to write formal poetry, and she did.

She was also a critic.

She published several volumes of her own poetry,

and she was also a poetry critic she wrote for the New Yorker for 38 years. So a long and

illustrious career for her in that way. And today's poem is called The Alchemist, and this is how it

goes. I burned my life that I might find a passion wholly of the mind, thought, eye and bone ecstasy come to breath alone i broke my life to seek relief

from the flawed light of love and grief with mounting beat the utter fire charred existence and desire. It died low, ceased its sudden thresh.

I had found unmysterious flesh, not the mind's avid substance, still passionate beyond the will.

I chose this poem because it really highlights Louise Bogan's commitment to traditional forms.

You can hear right away the regular meter and rhyme.

The poem is written throughout in couplets in iambic form.

And iams are two syllables with accent on the second syllable.

And you can hear these iams throughout this first line,

I burned my life that I might find.

...