Old Wine

I am going to present a poem which was written spontaneously and has not been edited. It is a prompt exercise based on an example which comes from Charles Bernstein's Experiments. This exercise arises from a prompt or suggestion which is rooted in anaphora. Anaphora is a kind of formless form. The poem can take any shape, use any meter, be regular or irregular in line numbers, and be rhymed or without rhyme. The key point is to create one device which does repeat regularly. So, there is form within the formless. In this exercise, which I am titling "Old Wine," I am using as my form the prompt which follows:

I used to be _________,

but now I am _________.

Old Wine

I used to be an adult,

but now I am a child.

I used to be a prince,

but now I am a frog -

all the kisses which princesses

etched on my brow, cheeks

or lips have finally faded.

I used to be a heart

beating in unison

with the rhythm of a generation,

but now I am a single

candle flame flickering in the breeze.

I used to be naked

in a world with no mirrors,

but now I am mirrored

in a world of overcoats.

I used to be a puppy

running free in an open field

wondering what everything

smelled like,

but now I am an old cur

barking at passersby

while I curl up

with a flavorless bone.

I used to be the man

who wrote epitaphs

on the cemetery markers

of the boys who came

home from Vietnam,

but now I am a ghost

of the empty shell,

the space in the coffins

where souls who die too

early silently cry.

I used to be a warm fire,

but now I am old wine.