The Invisible Mentor

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Purple Cow

Ideas abound and are everywhere. You will see them if you are open.

Where do you get your ideas from?

My friend Elizabeth Winter from Contact Professionals Alliance read my blog entry about Gelett Burgess‘ poem The Purple Cow and suggested that I do a follow-up post. Burgess became associated with the poem and he was not happy about it, so he wrote a follow-up verse to The Purple Cow.

If you remember from yesterday, here is the original poem:

The Purple Cow: Reflections on a Mythic Beast Who’s Quite Remarkable, at Least

I never saw a purple cow
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I’d rather see than be one!

And here is Burgess’ follow-up:

Confession: and a Portrait Too, Upon a Background that I Rue

Ah, yes, I wrote the “Purple Cow”—
I’m Sorry, now, I wrote it;
But I can tell you Anyhow
I’ll Kill you if you Quote it!

When you read  Confession: and a Portrait Too, Upon a Background that I Rue, what comes to mind? For me, I immediately think of regret. How many times have you done something that you later regretted doing? Or are you someone who doesn’t believe in regret?

If you did something remarkable, something pioneering, in the eyes of others, and you gained “notoriety” for it, would you be able to deal with all the attention? Do you think you would later regret your actions? Think on this! Do you think Burgess’ response to being associated with his poem is reasonable? If you were Burgess, what would you have done differently?

Related Post

What Does Gelett Burgess’ Poem The Purple Cow Mean?

Photo Credits

Avil Beckford & Clarecia Christie

Sometimes it is okay to go down the rabbit hole because you never know where it might lead. Acting on your curiosity often leads to wonderful discoveries. I was reading John Forde’s e-newsletter article “Short Words, Bigger Word Power,” in which he talks about his friend David Deutsch giving him Gelett Burgess’ essay “Short Words Are Words of Might.”

I have never heard of Gelett Burgess, and the name of the essay intrigued me so I wanted to find out more. I conducted an internet search and came across the poem The Purple Cow and got the idea for this blog post.

The Purple Cow

(Reflections on a Mythic Beast Who’s Quite Remarkable, at Least)

I NEVER saw a Purple Cow;

I never hope to See One;

But I can Tell you, Anyhow,

I’d rather See than Be One.

By Gelett Burgess (1866 – 1951)

What is a purple cow? Cows are not purple, so a purple cow must be an anomaly. Reading the Wikipedia entries for the many ways in which the purple cow phrase is used, it states, “the examples retain the common theme of a sense of something out of the ordinary.” The poem also reminded me of Seth Godin’s book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, which I read over five years ago.

The subtitle – Reflections on a Mythic Beast Who’s Quite Remarkable, at Least – for the poem is very telling. A Purple Cow is a metaphor for something that is out of the ordinary, something remarkable. Would you want to have experiences that are out of the ordinary? I would! And, would you want to be a Purple Cow?

Standing out is not necessarily a bad thing. What if you were a pioneer? Wouldn’t it feel great to be a leader, to establish a trend, to be first to market?

Today, too many people conform, and many do not want to take a chance and be that Purple Cow, to stand out from the rest. To conform is to be comfortable, and many of us like to feel comfortable. How about for today, we step outside of our comfort zone, and do something that is not very comfortable, do something remarkable.

I may be out to lunch, and that is okay, but, what does The Purple Cow poem mean to you? And would you want to be a Purple Cow, even if it is only for today?

Related Posts

Gelett Burgess and the blurb

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Phot Credits: Public Domain