Name: prideofprewett (Signed) · Date: 12 May 2022 10:47 PM · For: the labyrinth

Your writing has such a distinctive edge to it, and we definitely see that here in this final piece again! The cracked mirror and invisible scars and seeing and feeling two distinct ways about yourself has been something I've noticed in a few other poems.

 

I think you've done an excellent job with creating a cohesive collection that shares similar themes that carry throughout!

 

I also really liked the ending and thought it sort of tied everything together because this has mainly been the speakers feelings and inner thoughts...so the comparison between their mind being "a labryrinth of their own design" and ending this in that way felt like a great way to end it!

 

I'll definitely have to check out your next collection! :) Great job with this!

 

<3 Courtney 

Name: prideofprewett (Signed) · Date: 12 May 2022 10:44 PM · For: twist of a knife

Hi Kris! Here for some tag! :D I realized how close I was to finishing this poetry series, so I thought I'd leave some reviews!

 

I think the way you capture someone's need to be seen or to share all of their pain and feelings with another person in a significant way. The initial stanza, I felt the mention of wishing this person would notice the speaker's smile, was a way of really saying "I wish they could see the meaning behind the smile." And then the speaker later questioning the authenticity of their own smile, wondering if it's meaningful enough or conveying the right emotion they want it to also sort of led me down that thought process.

 

And then the ending with wanting to twist a knife and see blood visually spill as a way to get this person's attention...it just really fit in very nicely with that concept of conveying one thing and feeling another but wanting people to be able to draw the same conclusions about you that you also sort of are.

 

Anyway, I thought you created a solid theme and carried it through in this one quite well!

 

<3 Courtney

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 22 Mar 2022 12:34 AM · For: the labyrinth

hi kris, back for the last chapter for the galazy!

 

i love all the callbacks in this poem to previous chapter. the mirror, the scars, the stranger, where the eyes shuold be. the labyrinth, the blood (always). and finally, her own design. 

 

strokes of bright melancholy is a prefect word for this. it's all bright and flashing, moments of sadness condensed and produced. And the bloodstained labyrinth really gives me an image of a seemlingly endless room, just coated in all these words, little snapshots of life. 

 

this is the perfect culmination of all these poems, a room full of things that happened, and no longer things happening <3 i love how you wrapped this up

 

thank you so much for sharing a part of yourself kris <3

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 22 Mar 2022 12:31 AM · For: twist of a knife

hi kris, back for the galazy!

 

this first stanza really makes me think of regret and also a weakness in a way. that they wish they could stop, that what they're doing is wrong, but they just can't bring the truth to the surface, and no one sees it anyway

 

i think you really address the audience when you talk about the voyeurs looking at a broken image. it really almost makes me feel kind of dirty for reading this. i fell ike i'm enabling the bad behavior and decisions. like i'm promoting it bc it's art. it's a icky, real thing you've made me face <3

 

and i hope that the poison does bleed out, but not everything else, because poison can be removed <3 

 

i just got sappy at the end, but yeah, i'm making this have a happy ending. your poem, my interpretation

cat <3

 

 

 

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 22 Mar 2022 12:27 AM · For: a little death

Hi kris, back for another review for the galazy!

 

I love the teasing nature of this poem, how it goes back and forth from present to a memory. and also just how intense the present is. it's so physical and rough and also a known movement pattern and i love that, even though its turbulent <3

 

and i also love the memory of the tree, and that they weren't supposed to climb but they did anyway. its such a great parallel to the "wrong" love that they're in. the reveal of the infidelity of it all at the end really wraps that all together. 

 

and then again, going back to turbulent, turbulent decay??? where do you gget these thoughts!! and the chapter title is perfection

 

love this kris

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 22 Mar 2022 12:20 AM · For: (faux) manipulation

hi kris, back for a galazy review!!

 

i hate that first stnaza, the accusation that you're being manipulative because you are up and down fuhhuhguhhu that really got me angry. 

 

but touch is the only communication that seems to work here. i love the power of making someone weak with your touch, but there is some lost because he can make you weak in return. in worse ways, some might say

 

i can sense that closing, hiding away the truth so no one has to see it or face it. and i love thism "chase the vision you have of me". i know what its like to try and be something for someone GUH that hurts

 

i love that ending, though, give me a good crash and burn and rebuild

thanks kris,

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 22 Mar 2022 12:10 AM · For: my darkest thought

hi kris, back for another galazy review!

 

i have stopped getting my hopes up when something starts out nice and sparkly. i love the way you describe things when they're beautiful, though. you do that as well as the darky things

 

its a 'dark thought', but not outright unwelcome, it seems like an inevitable thing that she doesnt actually want to happen, but she also does. you and your hidden motives and desires. 

 

and then it returns to the set of three. its clear something has transpired, a lie, a betrayal, but we're not exactly sure what. but its enough to break her again to pieces nnooo

 

this one was so mysterious and quite betrayal ugh </3

 

thanks kris

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 22 Mar 2022 12:04 AM · For: toxic explosion

hi kris, back for another galazy review!

 

oh SHIT that first stanza really has me gasping for breath. i want a whole story just based off those first two lines seriously kris

 

i love how the black smoke is corrupting, ruining things and taking over the heart. and the black smoke in the red blood, ugh i just love your contrast

 

this fight between the smoke and the light and the italics there, "you taught me well" a call back to the beginning, this despair is so deep rooted i can't manage it. and again, it ends in a quick spiral and then nothingness. i love the pacing in your poems so much <3

 

thank you again kris

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 11:58 PM · For: three am

hi again, kris, back for a galazy review!

 

another late night text, and this time its a scheduled one, i love and hate this routine you establish with "always three am/the same words". like she knows exactly what's coming, and can't go without it. 

 

ugh i don't like how that turned, and now its such an ugly text. like something you're addicted to and can't get away from. and then that last thought, second-guess, but you can't stay away

 

but i am obsessed with your writing, and the last line really gets me. like her heart isn't eevn really there, but he keeps using her, UGH at least that's how i read it

 

why do you do me like this? </3 

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 11:47 PM · For: desolate wasteland

hi kris, back for another galazy review

 

i also think this is a beautiful tragedy you craft. especially because it the thought of being together lifts up this skeleton, which "hollow pits where bright eyes should look back"???? what an insane line. i love the promise of this one, the building up of the body and the trust that she's good enough <3 and they both promise forever in their own ways 

 

i love how you describe this, that someone lifting you up can really change you and help you heal in a way. and maybe its reliant, but its something, and the space between only feels longer with that. i love your use of imagery with eyes and stars and fire in these last few poems, they really are truly bright spots in the poems

 

thank you again!

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 11:42 PM · For: l’appel du vide

hi kris, back for another review for the galazy!

 

i love the way you write about the disorientation one feels when they can't distinguish fantasy from reality. and how it brings you closer to the void. i imagine this walk up into the building in a daze, without really understnading whats going on. i like the sort of disconnect you have from the first stanza to this one, it feels very much like a nightmare

 

and then as the foot is the last tether, it cuts again, to memories that should stay hidden. memories that probably cause these nightmares and confusion. i love how you talk about the sky and the buildings and the rubble in this, btw, just a cityscpae is such an interesting setting for this. and i also like how you talk about the abyss and the void in this one, like there's not even enough nothingness to describe nothing <3

 

i really like this poem, kris!

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 11:34 PM · For: bad liars

hi kris, back for another review for the galazy!

 

ooh that phrase, "no strings, we said" is such a painful way to start, because you just know someone is going to break that promise. i love the structure in the next two stanzas, promises and then broken promises. things that aren't said but are done :chef's kiss:

 

and i like that the lies have some value, like even if it couldn't last how it was supposed to, at least it burnt the way it did while it was alive. i also love the image of whispering 'i'm sorry but i'm a liar" because one wouldn't really say that, would they? but also, i have this image of someone just reading the lies on the other person's face <3

 

thank you for this poem, that feels like standing on a cliff

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 11:31 PM · For: a fire that never goes out

hi kris, back for another review for the galazy event :)

 

i love this fire that can be started by anything, not just the lighter. the look, a whisper, a touch really just makes my heart <3 i know its still fire and nothing stable or trustworthy necessarily, but its something

 

but i also love the lighter and that its an heirloom for the relationship. their fire has been burning and hasn't stopped since <33 who knew a cigarette and a lighter could be romantic? (you did) and its not even certain what *it* is, but its something <3 ugh, just beautiful. i love that this never goes out

 

thanks again kris

cat

 

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 11:27 PM · For: the start of our ruin

hi kris, back for more reviews for the galazy!

 

this is another one that starts with a big rush at the beginning and then fades out in a slow roll. this is different than other moments, where the sex can be bathed in light and doesn't have to be hidden in shadows and darkness. 

 

and the words i love you are not immediate cause for pause and hesitation, but just a slow start to their downfall. i love how they come back to touch and i love you is whispered again, even thought they've fallen or are falling. 

 

its *almost* happy, and you have me hopeful, though i know i'll be curshed again in a moment. isn't that a piece of love, for ya?

 

thanks for this kris!

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 11:15 PM · For: the king of wayward flames

hi kris, back for more galazy reviewing

 

the hopelessness and solitude you convey in this poem is so gripping. the way eyes are described as the only things visible in the sky, nothing left but eyesand darkness, ugh its so good

 

and the two eyes are just followed down the tracks. you use train track imagery a lot, i wonder if that's just a life thing, something you've done a lot, or just a metaphor for escape that you like to use. 

 

oof the last stanza really brings it home , aa king of wayward flames that leads her through the dark. that's such a good closer for this. like the only light in the dark, but it only leads to more darkness

 

thanks kris <3

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 10:59 PM · For: private party

hi kris, back for another review!

 

this feels like such an indulgent thing, that text when you feel low, and the tequila and the bite on the lip. its all done in abandon of whatever that low feeling was when the stanza starts

 

and it's something that's so known, a bad habit as a solution to some thing even worse (its so dark but honestly i love it, but i know i shouldn't, but the phrase "with glitter and blow" is so good anyway)

 

and under the cover of night, they can be together and not worry about things that happen when the dawn breaks. this felt like a little reprieve in its own way, and i'm thankful for that kris. even though...dawn is rising

 

<3 another lovely poem

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 10:53 PM · For: daredevil girl

hi kris, i'm back for another galazy review!

 

i love the chapter title of this, because the world girl just has all these connotations about youth and innocence. So even the phrase 'daredevil girl' seems to be kind of flat and not that dangerous. except it is. and they don't know what the daredevil girl is really capable of </3 it's such a dark thought

 

and also, its so horrible that they don't want to see the truth. if daredevil firl can just be interesting enough its okay, but anything too out of the ordinary is not allowed UGH i hate that idea, of being controlled for others. 

 

but i love the image of leaping off the burning bridge, and the confrontation -- they ask with wonder in their eyes. trying to imagine how you could even be so dark

 

another great one, kris! this also reminds me of that show about soccer and murder i think you talked about

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 10:48 PM · For: a path of self-destruction

hi kris, back for more galazy reviewing!

 

oh no another poem about being too much and not enough ://

 

the reflectiveness in this poem is so dark. it's so hard to see onesself, and this poem really addresses all those negative thoughts you have about yourself. you can't hide from your own white lies in the mirror, and you can't stop yourself from indulging in things that you know will bring you down </3

 

i hate this sense of corruption that's started to crop up in these poems (by hate, you're just really good at making me sad). that the pull of darkness is inevtiable like gravity, until another person becomes an empty mirror staring back

 

thank you, kris <3

catherine (idk why i used my full name)

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 10:41 PM · For: the greatest love of your life

Hi kris, back for more reviews for the galazy!

 

i love this youthful feelings of running on clouds that is immediately clamped down by the fact that they don't want each other in the same way. it's such a reminiscient feeling of that painful transition between teenagerism and adulthood (which I still refuse to be an adult, if anyone's interested) 

 

oof, the way that the black and grey and can't mix with vivid colors is such a beautiful thing, like two things that just aren't meant to be together, even if they want to be. turning everything i touch into dead stars is a horrible power to have, but beautiful wording. knocking out every bright star, oof

 

you're really hitting me hard with this one. the realism and the fantasy are smacking up against one another. 

 

thanks kris!

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 10:35 PM · For: six am

Hi kris, back for more galazy reviews!

 

the first little stanza here really makes me feel the nerves. the concrete steps and shaking hands are such a familiar place to me. i love how you talk about environments <3

 

and how that one moment/text immediately leads into a slew of days and nights with no one but the other. I love this being known part, and how it can actually be such a curse to be known by someone. because then they have the ammunition to hold you up and break your down </3 which is exactly what i read in here

 

and i also love that last bit about painting shades of silver and gold before he leaves. he gilds, and then ditches, just leaving false beauty in his wake WOW

 

love this one kris

Cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 10:30 PM · For: the glass shard

Hi kris, back for the galazy!!

 

i like how you start this will "you don't know". because so often no one really knows what goes on underneath pretty things, and you get that so well <3 and this connects so well to the theme you have throughout these of never being enough 

 

i hate how the shards of glass turn from inside to the other person, corrupting what good there is. because it probably doesn't, but convincing them otherwise is not really even possible. all this desctruction breaks my heart </3 and now both are beyond repair, leaning on the other for support 

 

and again, everyone will just fall together in desctruction, painting the world your favorite color together.

 

thanks again kris

Cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 10:23 PM · For: the dead abyss

hi kris, back for another review for the galazy!

 

i never really tihnk about sound too much when ireview your pieces, but now the silnce you talk about is deafening. and it makes me want to do something, to move, anything to get out of hte shadows and the abyss you fall into

 

i literally got the shivers when i read down from 'i'm a wreck'. i really feel that self-hatred and the inability to change things or do anything to make it better. you just keep tumbling down and down until you hit another abyss, and that cycle keeps repeating. i like how this one is sort of monochrome, though. like the world moves in grey around you

 

thank you, kris!

cat 

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 10:18 PM · For: vandal

Hi again Kris, back for the galazy!

 

ugh i hate this thought that you'd have to try harder to be loved. i think everyone deserves love, and mistakes, chaos, or flaws don't necessarily make you unworthy of love. but, as for your writing, it's beautiful and really does put me down in a way. making me think of hte pain of not feeling worhty of love

 

the ripping apart, the violence is so visceral. i feel like you're tearing at the seams of everything and just waiting for something to stick, for some version to be enough </3 and then, after all that, you still blame yourself for everything. so hard

 

love this one kris

cat <3

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 10:05 PM · For: a vibrant melody

Hi Kris, back for another review for the galazy!

 

the way that you describe this hold the person has, it feels unbreakable, with the twisted and terrifying line. it really feels like a dam breaks with that line, "but i want it"

 

it seems to flood in all these sensory words "break, ruin, lust, lose, numb, chaos" I feel like I'm being attacked with feelings in this second part. and the screams that go unheard in the first part go into the other person in the second, i love that thread of thought

 

unlike other works, this goes from low to high, building slowly until it crumbles again. everything happens in a flash in these poems they are so thrilling. 

 

thanks again kris!

cat

Name: blackballet (Signed) · Date: 21 Mar 2022 09:55 PM · For: radiant nightmare

Hi Kris, back for another review for the galazy

 

i like the title for this one, because your poems are so rarely truly radiant. it's a great juxtaposition. and we see that in the sheets and white lines, everything contrasted in that first stanza

 

and you continue that with the dark high, of course, from russian roulette. that's certainly dark (the only time i've snickered in one of your poems) i love that they don't even care what anyone else thinks, because its their thing

 

in a way, it feels very secluded and i could see them living in this world no one can see or access. and how that would look from the outside, something that no one can touch. just like you say, they can't come down until it all burns down </3 exactly

 

thank you, kris!

cat