In the poem “Hologram,” Lauren Westerfield makes use of a variety of different forms of repetition. Anaphora, in particular, is one form of repetition she utilizes consistently. Each section of this four section poem has its own anaphora, with the third section having two (though it can perhaps be argued that the second is not, in fact, an anaphora as “with grace” is not limited solely to the beginning of the lines).

In the first stanza, the anaphora is, “Sometimes,” and is used less heavily. In the second, “Mother. Lover. Friend.” In the third, “I’d like to think” and “with grace.” The fourth, “I am Cleopatra.” 

Four is a very powerful number in this piece, repeated often in different ways and related directly to a quoted axiom “One becomes Two, out of Two becomes Three, and out of the third comes the One as the Fourth.” This number makes it’s appearance again in the instances of anaphora; it is used four times, and each one is repeated for times.

I’d like to think that chasing pain is pointless.

I’d like to think that chasing pain is poetry.

I’d like to think that I’m an empathetic person.

I’d like to think in terms of scales: to understand where I would fall:

 The first instance of anaphora, which falls before the axiom in the poem, is the only one to be repeated less. It is only repeated twice (a perfect half of four), followed by the subtle shift to “Other times.” 

The repetition throughout this poem is used to give weight and support to the importance of the equation, “[One = Two = Three = (Four = ONE)],” and the anaphora is no different. It is a subtle way of manipulating the reader’s experience of the poem; the average reader (as in, those not analyzing the poem) will not count how many anaphors there are, or how many times each repetition occurs, they will only read each repetition after the axiom four times, thus creating a cadence of four, despite there not being any meter to the poem.

This poem appears in Pank Magazine.