Name: shadowycorner (Signed) · Date: 26 Sep 2020 09:05 AM · For: five am

i read this yesterday and was too overwhelmed to even review

it is dark and haunting and beautifully written but it still carries a lot of pain

i can feel the anger, the reckless desire for revenge, i felt it too

thank you for writing this, it can't be easy, but it is art and it is precious

i wish

i could

enjoy the night

me too

Name: shadowycorner (Signed) · Date: 25 Sep 2020 07:27 PM · For: secret wildfire

hi kris so...i am so here for your writing, i've always thought it was like poetry, so reading actual poetry from you is just...amazing. i started with the later ones cos you mentioned you really like them, but i'll definitely be making my way up and down this list of chapter-poems

 

you wield words beautifully, create this perfect emotional imagery of drama and darkness, like 'wildfire in our blood/children of the wild/vicious sinner' so few words yet they really tell a story, create an atmosphere.

 

and then there's the emotional punches, 'i'm just not worth it, being anything more than a mistake, a footnote in your life, a secret' and these words in particular made me feel a lot of things because of my own buried feelings from long ago, and i love how your writing always, always makes me feel

Name: dreamshadow (Signed) · Date: 12 Sep 2020 01:28 AM · For: singing lights

hiiii kris, here for our swap!

i'm not even surprised your poetry is as stunning (if not more) as your prose. the language here is so violent, but it almost feels necessary and desperate, y'know? 

'i tear at the comforting numbess of my darkness' gives me literal chills and makes me want to hug the narrator of this poem, although tbh that's probably the last thing that they want. but your use of colors and the way you always have 'darkness' as a line all by itself really gives power to it. 

i just... this is so good. it's powerful and almost tragic, the narrator knowing that the events that happened will haunt them.

i don't really know how helpful this review was, but ugh. so, so good -- thank you for writing this and sharing it with us, i'll def be back to review more of your poetry ♥ ♥ ♥

Name: victoria_anne (Signed) · Date: 05 Sep 2020 02:00 AM · For: two bad girls

I'm convinced your writing is the love child between Halsey and Lana del Ray. This poem reminded me of This Is What Makes Us Girls and I'm living for it. I loved this little moment in time of two daring girls coming into their bodies, playing with danger in more ways than one. But the fact that the dropped cigarettes stand as a monument makes me wonder if the girls aren't as bad as they think they are. I would love to read more about them, actually! This was beautifully done <3

Name: victoria_anne (Signed) · Date: 05 Sep 2020 01:52 AM · For: my first illicit party

Ooh I really like this one. I love how the beginning stanza felt so dreamy, I felt the freedom of those teenagers at a party where they're surrounded by their best friends and sharing kisses. But of course it turns a bit darker, because this is a you poem ;) 

 

But I looove the contrast of that dreamy memory with something harsh and dark, and kind of reflective of the way you give everything to your first love but it rarely works out.

 

Gorgeous!

Name: victoria_anne (Signed) · Date: 05 Sep 2020 01:39 AM · For: white lies

Krissss this was beautiful! I love that it reads like a story, and while it has a different rhythm to your prose, it's still has a haunting rhythm that works really well with the content.

 

This was so dark! That middle 'until' was about to give me hope until I kept reading. I guess I should have known, happy endings aren't usually something I associate with you :P I really loved the colour imagery in this, and they were such bold colours - red, white - that come against the black that made it feel more harsh. And the mix of long lines with short ones are - I feel, anyway - representative of the speaker's mindset, that their thoughts are kind of all over the place as they go through something.

 

Loved this!

Name: abhorsen (Signed) · Date: 04 Sep 2020 09:43 PM · For: honey dipped scars

here for our swap + rvg! (i know we only had three but like these are short reviews so i wanted to leave more than three)

OH MY GOD OUTRUNNING THE CREATURES UNDER MY SKIN that is also a fucking Mood, how are all of these moods + how are you so good at everything you write, i would be tempted to feel an attack of Extreme Envy (in like the best possible way) but instead i'm going to hope that some of it will rub off on me :P

ANYWAY because yeahhh, like... just the very visceral (i feel like i'm overusing that word today but idk) need to escape something that's under your skin and trying to outrun it or like claw it out of you but then also needing it? is just so... i mean, a Relatable Mood, and i have fucking Been there? i used to go for like 1am runs on campus as an undergrad because of that and just.

+100000

Name: abhorsen (Signed) · Date: 04 Sep 2020 09:35 PM · For: a dramatic overreaction

here for our swap + rvg! (i know we only had three but like these are short reviews so i wanted to leave more than three)

look, "don't be dramatic / so what if i am / i don't want to calm down / i want to breathe fire" is such a fucking mood oh my god. honestly though every line is a mood? like, i love how harsh the opening is and in the best possible way, there is no chill in this and i feel like that's so fucking relatable (at least to those of us with Tempers who are sometimes like "uhhh i think there might literally be fire in my veins don't even fuck with me"

and the "i want revenge" is just also so relatable in that? like for fucking serious?

idk this is amazing

Name: abhorsen (Signed) · Date: 04 Sep 2020 09:24 PM · For: secret wildfire

here for our swap + rvg! (i know we only had three but like these are short reviews so i wanted to leave more than three)

omgggg so i think the thing is that sometimes things aren't really clearly an accident or not an accident, because you kind of meant to do them and maybe they weren't the best choice but you can't really regret them either? if that makes sense??

also againnnn the reference back to like... natural disasters? weather events? idk what to call them? is so excellent and you lean into them in exactly the right way? like it feels like here, you give a frame of reference and then that just kind of primes how the reader (or at least this reader?) reads the feelings and experiences and sequence of events and also fuck anybody who tries to make me a footnote i should get at least one fucking scene in everyone's biopic

(what's wrong with me)

(you're great though amazing job)

Name: abhorsen (Signed) · Date: 04 Sep 2020 09:18 PM · For: a hurricane

here for our swap + rvg!

omg so i needed to jump to this bc hurricanes are Me i have been compared to a hurricane for like most of my life so i am Here for this

and yes all of these things speak so so loudly to me, i guess this is why we are merging into one person, it's in the profile pictures and the inner turmoil and intense focus on smut, high five to us

but ANYWAY yes, i love this, bc i feel like it really depicts how being called a human hurricane, like... feels? and i really, really love the references to nightmares, bc i feel like it's such a great reflection of how overwhelming and scary being so On and Intense all the time can feel, and i love this, and i know i said that but i mean it so i bore repeating, you are excellent

Name: abhorsen (Signed) · Date: 04 Sep 2020 09:11 PM · For: two venomous fiends

here for our swap + rvg!

so i love this for a couple reasons. (well, probably more than a couple reasons, but there are two reasons in my brain rn so those are what i'm going with)

1) the way you use colors is your poetry is just quickly starting to make me just go like heart eyes? it's just so visceral and harsh in this really amazing way and i love it

2) i love the way you talk about, like... the dark sides of love? and the negative parts of it? because i feel like it's often depicted in these wonderful glowing ways and that's uhhh... not realistic, yk? and sometimes that toxic shit is what fucking gets its claws in you and Will Not Let Go and ughhhh

anyway i love this you're amazing

Name: abhorsen (Signed) · Date: 03 Sep 2020 08:34 PM · For: singing lights

heyyy, kris! here for our swap. <3

oooof i really love this so much. i love the way you use colors in here, because it's really a pretty dark poem, but the imagery they're inspiring is just, like... i mean, yeah, these flashing lights permeating the darkness in a jarring and intrusive way. and like... i feel that, because sometimes numbness and nothingness is really, really comforting in a way that's maybe not great in terms of mental health but is super super real.

i'm so so glad you wrote this.

Name: down-in-flames (Signed) · Date: 01 Sep 2020 01:42 AM · For: the villain

i’m going wildly out of order here and starting with the very last poem in this collection

 

(also full disclosure i have read a bunch of these and i’m kind of obsessed with them, i love this style of poetry - the short lines and lack of an intentional rhyme scheme - and you’re so good at it)

 

but i really, really love all the imagery in this one - the stargazing, and the myths and legends, and the depiction of what seems like a father figure teaching his daughter that she’s so much more than a damsel in distress and is the hero in her own story. but then there’s also the fact that he’s not there - either intentionally or unintentionally - when she *does* need some outside help. in that, you manage to take all the descriptions from the first half of the poem and give them some real emotional depth and additional meaning.

 

“and i never wished / to tell you i’m not the hero. / i’m the villain.” is just a haunting end note and really cements the way that this poem gradually sinks from its lighthearted beginnings into something deeper and more somber

 

anyways, i’m really not sure if this review does justice to this poem but i'm just going to sum it up with: you are an incredible writer in all things and this foray into OF poetry is no exception <3

 

-taylor

Name: Felpata_Lupin (Signed) · Date: 31 Aug 2020 07:47 PM · For: the hate i feel

Hey, Kris, darling, I'm here for our swap! <3

Okay, I have to admit that I'm not very good at reviewing poetry, but I'm going to try anyway. Also, I've read the first three in the collection and, while I don't think I can fully comprehend the experiences you are talking about, the pain you express is so tangible and real and I could really feel the impact so strongly! The writing style and the metaphores are so stunning, too! I really loved all of them!

This one is probably the one that resonated more for me. I could feel the sense of betrayal, of disillusionment, of broken trust. Also, the idea that the protagonist is led to think that that kind of toxic "love" is normal, that it's how it is supposed to be... it fills me with so much sadness, and I just want to give you so many hugs, okay? <3

we don't talk / or maybe we do / how is the weather? / fine. / it's cloudy outside. / yeah. / did you see... / no. Oh, my, this bit! This bit is just so, so good! It's so blunt, and so effective because of that! Like, there should be a bond there, but it's so damaged at this point that it is like a talk between two strangers. It's so unbelievably sad, but I love the way you wrote it!

I'm sorry if I'm not making this justice, or if I'm missing the point completely (which is a total possibility, because poetry is hard... :P) but I think you really did an incredible job with these! Also, it requires a lot of courage to expose yourself like this, so I admire you a lot for writing something so personal and sharing it with us! <3

A huge, huge snowball hug rolling your way!

Chiara