Well, you guys are meanies.

Why?

Because all of the poems were so freaking good! I had such a hard time judging this!

And I'm not saying that to butter you up or anything; no, just look at the scores! Dude, I don't think anyone scored below a 75. Bro??? Do you know how rare it is to have a category where no one scores below 70, let alone 75???? Man, this was tough to judge, but seriously, hats off to you, poets!

Everyone reading this, please check out these poets. They did a really awesome job, and poetry doesn't get enough recognition on this platform. You guys did great!

Congratulations to all the winners!

I was planning on posting short stories first, but poetry I ended up finishing beforehand, so you can expect short stories soon since I read all the stories already and am just finishing up the reviews.

There is 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, along with two honorable mentions, so five overall placements.

Please be respectful in the comments and don't cause any fights. I put a lot of time and effort into these reviews, and you are always welcome to ask questions, though please give me up to 48 hours to answer them.

Also, I've made good progress on my other awards, which frees up more time to do these awards, so I hope to have more results out soon. Please keep in mind, though, that my reviews are obnoxiously long, and I'm just one person doing them by myself. Each category takes me 70+ hours each. You can always ask me writing questions in the meantime because I'm happy to help, so even without getting a review, I will still tell you my thoughts! I love reviewing, otherwise I wouldn't do it (and it's literally my job, too...), all I ask is for your patience. And, like I said, you can always ask for writing advice in the meantime or read the other reviews since even without me directly reviewing your book, you may find my other reviews helpful!

AKA: Please check this book and my mb since I post frequent updates about my awards on there. I've posted like three updates about these awards in the past month alone, so please keep your eyes peeled! A lot of people have been missing these updates, but if I'm giving them, then there's not much more I can do, so please check.

Feel free to reach out to me on Discord and join my server to get writing help and ask people to read your work and give their thoughts. The link to the server is in my bio. I give frequent updates about my contests there, too.

I am currently judging short stories, best ongoing, and feel-good. Everything that's closed I'm judging, really, but those are the three I am doing the most work on. Short stories will be posted next since that I'm just about done with.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays! It's my dad's birthday today (26th), and I have an important interview on Friday, but I'll try to be around as best I can today and tomorrow especially to answer any questions!

P.S.: Normal? is reopened due to an early backout, and it's been reopened for a bit now but has had no takers. There's only one slot left, though the Normal? category is relatively easy to judge, so if you'd like to sign up for it, please do! If not, I will manually close it in the next 48 hours and begin judging it.

3rd Place

Open Mind by Eloeide

Review:

Poems judged: Surgery, I Played a Song, Something Needs to be Fixed

Structure: 8/10. The structures of the three poems submitted are solid. They do a great job immersing the reader in the text. I especially like Surgery. You're going to hear that a lot throughout this review: Surgery was awesome. In fact, I'll just say it now: I don't have any critiques for Surgery. I think it's an amazing poem that everyone should read. It ends perfectly, the structure is sound, the SPAG is perfect, and the meaning and figurative language used to evoke a powerful reaction from the audience was truly something special. This whole compilation is something special, and a lot of that is thanks to the structure being fluid and bringing the reader from point A to point B smoothly, giving them time to reflect on what they read while also hitting all the right punches. You did absolutely fantastic with this!

The only very minor critique I have could just be a personal thing where other people love it, but structure-wise, the last paragraph in ( ) of Something Needs to be Fixed was interesting, and I appreciate the experimentation, though the drastic structure difference at the end was a bit abrupt, and I feel it could have potentially been stronger as its own italicized stanza instead of put at the end almost like an aside. That being said, I do appreciate the experimentation and the diversity with the structure and how you played around with it, so I respect and admire the creativity there. Overall, your poem structure is very good.

Diversity: 10/10. The diversity in the poems is amazing. Like I said in the previous section, the structures are great and very unique. They play around with fragments and different punctuation methods to give the poems more individuality in the writing style, and every poem is vastly different from the last in terms of its theming. You start off with a bang with Surgery, which is an incredible poem with an incredible ending that really sums up what the core theme of the entire compilation is, so I see why you submitted it to be judged. It matches in with the compilation so well, and I think all the themes here are awesome. Everything feels fresh and interesting, and I appreciate your experimentation. All in all, I have no critiques for the diversity of the poems.

Themes and emotions: 15.5/20. The themes and emotions present throughout the poems are fantastic. Surgery especially has powerful figurative language that makes it stand out as something special, and I could read it again and again. However, that's not to say the other two poems aren't special either, because they are. I Played a Song has an awesome closing line that really ties it all together in a neat bow, and Something Needs to be Fixed has a relatable central theme with intriguing language woven throughout that gave me a clear picture of what was going on with the narrator and how "forever" was a central concept to them. It's a really interesting concept that I enjoyed very much, and that when matched with experimental structure and strong readability thanks to the lack of SPAG errors made for a great read.

Critique-wise, I don't have much, and most of what I have to say are things I've already written explanations for in the next few sections, so I don't want to talk your ear off when future me already did just that. But I'll still give a brief overview of where the deductions come from. The Something Needs to be Fixed poem has an abrupt moment that I felt could have been smoothened to give more cohesion to the themes and emotions (I'll explain this in the next section), and also an ending that could be tweaked. I did like the fragments present throughout the poems, though I felt there were some moments they could have been toned down in favor of different sentence types. These are all things I'll explain later in more detail, though I just wanted to mention them here since they factor into the score. But all in all, the themes and emotions were great!

Word choice: 12.5/15. There is quite commendable word choice and lines present throughout the three poems to the point where, while reading my first time (normally I read a poem once, twice, and then the third time is when I start taking notes), I had to stop and take a note on how good I thought this line was:

"I sang, silent

"I danced, quiet" (I Played a Song).

I thought that was excellent, thought-provoking, and engaging. It's simple, but it says so much. Sometimes the simplest of words can say so much, right? It really hooked me. I don't think I can explain why, but isn't that the power of words? Sometimes you see something, and it makes you stop and reflect. Stop and think. That's what that entire poem did for me, and it was wonderful. Truly awesome work here.

Of course, I probably don't need to mention again how I enjoyed Surgery, but I will anyway, and that's because of the way each word flows. They all flow together so well and feel so cohesive, and the ending ties it up perfectly. It's such a wonderful poem, and as you can probably tell, it really spoke to me, and it's because of the clever word choice and imagery that's both sickening and beautiful.

When it comes to critiques, I'd say In the Something Needs to be Fixed poem, there could be a little more cohesion with the theme, which can be done via the word choice. For example, "from writing this trash" is a little abrupt and, at least for me, didn't feel like it meshed with the rest of the poem. Maybe a more subtle line that isn't as harsh and abrupt could work there. I say this because the rest of the poem uses "softer" and more "conversational" language, and that's the only line that's harsh and abrupt like that, so that's why I say consider tweaking it so there's a little more cohesion. It's a very short poem, so every line counts and stands out a little more. There were also a couple other things about fragments and endings that I'll mention in their respective sections, though since I already wrote an explanation for them prior to writing this section (I write reviews out of order), I'll let future me explain. Overall, the word choice is really solid!

Figurative language: 15/15. There are some fantastic uses of figurative language throughout these poems, which makes for an engaging read that leaves the reader with a lot to think about. For example, the entire "Surgery" chapter is one giant piece of symbolism and metaphors, where the act of "surgery" is compared to having your mind opened, and it has grotesque imagery that's vivid to a point where you squirm, and I thought that was awesome. Honestly, I think this section deserves a perfect score. The use of metaphors and symbolism is beautiful throughout each poem, and I absolutely loved it. You did amazing, and I have no critiques!

Clarity: 7.5/10. The overall clarity of the poems is solid. The messages are clear but also given plenty of layers to give them depth and make the audience think to unpack them. There are plenty of interpretations you can make about Something Needs to be Fixed and I Played a Song in particular, where we can speculate about the lengths the narrators might go to reach their personal finish lines to fix their mistakes and last forever. They're intriguing themes that have a clear flow from start to end. The SPAG is really, really good, and I didn't notice any errors, whether they be intentional or unintentional, making for a smooth read. I didn't have to reread any parts because I was confused or the SPAG was off, so you did a fantastic job keeping the poems easy-to-understand the core premises of while also having a lot of complexity in them. That made for a great balance and an equally great read.

The only critiques I have are mostly what I've said before about the abruptness in Something Needs to be Fixed, and while abrupt moments can absolutely work, for me I wasn't a huge fan of that moment. Another thing is while I do like the fragmented style the poems have, Something Needs to be Fixed could benefit from utilizing a little less fragments and consider playing around with the structure of the poem to really amp up the mindset the narrator is in. Consider experimenting more with punctuation, different line lengths, italics, alignment, etc. Not all of those things all at once since that can be too much, but considering this narrator seems to be trying a lot of things but realizing that mistakes take a lifetime to fix, it could be interesting to see that shown more through the style of the poem itself, if that makes sense. But that's just a random idea and not a must or anything. Either way, I still think the clarity of the poems is great, and I loved breaking down the meaning of these poems after reading them.

Conclusion: 8.5/10. Every poem has a clear start and finish. The structure, as I mentioned before, is solid and does a fantastic job transporting the reader into your world of poems. The conclusions wrap up your themes super well, especially for Surgery. I can't praise Surgery enough, seriously. It's a short yet impactful poem with a solid ending. I Played a Song also has an awesome ending, with its banging final line packing a nice punch that meaningfully closes out the poem. You don't waste our time or dilly dally on anything unimportant, instead giving your poems great consistency, and it being free from SPAG errors gives it an extra bonus where it's fluid and easy to read. That just makes the conclusions that much better. All in all, you did an amazing job with all of the endings, and I only have a minor critique I'll leave below.

The only critique is what I mentioned before in the structure category where I felt the last part in Something Needs to be Fixed could have been its own stanza instead of in ( ) at the very end as it felt a bit abrupt. The words themselves and what was being said was good, it was just the sudden structure difference just for that one part that was abrupt, and I felt it wasn't necessary, too, since the last line of the last stanza was excellent. So that's just one minor critique, but I otherwise thought the conclusions were great, and I still appreciate the experimentation of the piece, even if it wasn't my personal favorite thing. I always encourage creativity like this!

Title/blurb/cover: 9/10. The title is Open Mind, which is a nice title for a poetry compilation. It's short and to-the-point while also inspiring curiosity... open mind? What does that mean in this context? It definitely feels like a title that would be on a poetry book, so it makes sense, and that when paired with the cover makes the title have a nice punch to it. No critiques!

I like the blurb. I think the blurb does a good job giving the audience a glimpse into what they're about to see, telling us what style of poetry you write and for us to expect it to be personal. That's great! I like that a lot! It doesn't drag on too long, but it stays long enough to let us know exactly what we need to know. Again, no critiques!

The cover is awesome! I love love love the picture and how it relates to the title. Having the wings sprouting (or circling? I can't tell if it's coming out of the head or not, but either way, it's cool and trippy) out of the woman's head and making her faceless is really, really visually appealing. I love the concept and how it's black and white. I also like your vision for the text being Open Mind but the "Mind" is positioned where it is, same with the author's name.

The only very minor thing is I don't really care for the "a poetry collection" at the top left. It feels a little plain compared to the rest of the creative cover, and it also feels a tad unnecessary. But that's just a really small thing in an otherwise beautiful cover, so great job! The creativity is off the charts!

Total: 86/100

2nd Place

Monochrome by archiveofapoet

Review:

Poems judged: Poetic Mask, Memory Lane, In English we say "No one Understands"

Structure: 9/10. These are all very short poems that, on laptop, are barely even a full scroll, that's how short they are, and I was surprised by the length (though, I also did read this after reading three poetry compilations in a row with longer poems, so that could be why), but I don't mean that in a bad way. I actually think it's impressive that you experimented with so few words. I appreciate the structure and attention to detail.

The structures did what they needed to for the poems. None of the structures felt overly complicated or like you were trying too hard to be quirky and different (sorry I had to say it I love saying that-), so I appreciated that and thought the overall structures of each poem were well-handled and made sense for the poems you were crafting. I also liked the circular structure you had going on in In English, where everything circled back to each other and created meaning. Cool stuff!

This is a small thing, but it is a little impactful since I think it can enhance the meaning of the sentence and the overall meaning of the poem, but in the "In English" poem, the first sentence is: "In English we say, 'No One Understands'". There's also the same but for poetry instead. I feel playing around with the punctuation here could help the structure a bit and add a bit more meaning. For example, consider: In English, we say, "No One Understands." I added a period/full stop and a comma. The period/full stop since the "No one understands" poetry version has a period/full stop at the end, so it could make for an interesting connection. The comma to slow it down just a hair and really settle the readers in the moment, adding a natural pause (and the same applies to the next line, where it could be "But, in poetry, we say,"). I know those are really small things, but they could be worth considering!

Diversity: 8.5/10. The messages throughout the three poems are vastly different, with one being depressing, one being more positive, and the other being more neutral where you gotta peel the layers back to peer inside and see what exactly In English is saying. So it's safe to say there is quite a bit of diversity within the poem messages. The tones are similar yet different, and this kind of feels like the type of poem compilation where you sit back, relax, and sip on some tea while it rains and you read this compilation. Does that make sense? I hope it makes sense, but yeah, that's what it feels like. It has great themes and emotions that pulled me in and kept me hooked for the entire read time.

While I do like the shorter structure you have, it could be interesting to see you play around with longer poems as well. I checked the other two poems available in the compilation as well since I was curious to see, and they too are very short, especially The End. Nothing wrong with short poems, but these ideas are really, really interesting and could be expanded on in the future, and I encourage you to write some longer poems, too. I know that's not a big deal or anything, though some of them, like the "In English" could have even more impact if it were expanded on where there were, say, three phrases we say in English versus the poetic way to say it, if that makes sense. But overall, the diversity within the poems was great!

Themes and emotions: 17/20. The themes are very strong throughout the story. For example, the Poetic Mask poem had a fantastic theme about survival and healing, and what endurance truly looks like. It's literally a poetic mask for all the pain and suffering the narrator is going through, making the title feel so carefully chosen and the poem feel so carefully crafted. I love how it feels like a whole, well-rounded poem with deep nuance and plenty of layers to pick away... kind of like taking off a bunch of masks.

I like the themes of all the poems, and I think Poetic Mask is my favorite theme while Memory Lane is my favorite overall poem, though I liked In English's theme, too. The relatable feeling of what it means to be misunderstood is really interesting, and I like how you decided to convey it through the contrast of "basic" English and the language of poetry, and I also like how it implies that poetry can really transcend different barriers of language, which is true. Poetry is able to touch us in a way that not many other genres can, which is fantastic!

Most of my critiques are about In English, as I feel it could have been expanded on to flesh it out a bit more and give more weight to the emotions present. The small sample size, while a good idea, does make it a bit underdeveloped, in my opinion. For example, maybe have one or two more words defined "in English," and then "in poetry." Another thing is a few of the ideas in there are really cool, like the chained soul within, and I think those kinds of ideas could benefit from some more fleshing out since there could be a bunch more layers you can add to them. I mean, when my critique boils down to "I want to see more," I'd say you're on a pretty good track, so it's nothing to panic over or anything, though it's still worth mentioning since it did make the emotional impact of In English a bit weaker than it otherwise could have been since I would have liked to see more layers added to it and more depth given to those otherwise really cool lines. Everything in the poem is good, it could have just been expanded upon more, if that makes sense. But overall, fantastic work!

Word choice: 13/15. The word choice throughout the three pieces submitted is very good. It's mature and reflects the tone of the poems very, very well, often painting interesting ideas in our heads about what the poems are about. For example, Poetic Mask has a nice repetition of "to survive," which is a good combination of word choice (the word choice is fantastic in context with the rest of the poem) and the repetition rhetoric device. It's a fantastic blend of the pretty with the simple, and I think you did a great job creating an engaging balance that makes the poems clear (as you'll see me talk about two sections from now), and the great SPAG makes it even more enjoyable to read! Awesome job!

The only critique is what I said before about how In English could be expanded on and include more language, giving us a better scope of your theme since it's an interesting one, and I'd love to see more. I think you could benefit from some more specific word choice in In English, and/or an expansion because some of word choice was a bit vague, which is okay for poetry, though with an expansion showing more definitions and exploring the concept more with your unique word choice, I think it could be beneficial. But, that aside, the word choice is awesome! I overall really loved it!

Figurative language: 13/15. Imagery is a strong piece of figurative language present throughout the piece. There is some awesome symbolism and imagery present throughout the work, like "dying flowers and crying clouds," and also "velvet shadows of dusk till dawn." I don't think I need to explain why those are cool, haha. They evoke powerful images from the audience, and they're also creative. Crying clouds is really thought-provoking, same with velvet shadows. I think those two examples go to show how you're able to apply such intriguing, vivid imagery to your tales, and yet the sentences around them will be more down-to-earth (still pretty, but more down-to-earth and simplistic in terms of meaning) so you never risk being over-the-top. The figurative language is sprinkled in so the readers can digest it, and you don't put figurative language in for sake of having it there, making for a great balance and a powerful read of all three poems, as all three effectively used at least some figurative language to elevate their themes and emotions.

The critiques are from an accumulation of everything I've said thus far, so I don't want to talk your ear off about it. Just some things about In English and how it could benefit from some expansion and more figurative language to help give it more depth and intrigue, but that's all stuff I already explained, so I won't go in-detail about it here other than to mention it since it did lead to some deductions for the missed potential for more unique figurative language. Overall, the figurative language was very solid throughout the piece, and I enjoyed it very much!

Clarity: 8.5/10. The poems are, overall, pretty clear, especially in terms of story/poem direction. Everything starts and ends interestingly, and the starts in particular are clear and give the reader the poet's voice right away. Memory Lane is my favorite, as I've said throughout the review, and part of that is because the message is so clear while also having figurative language and strong word choice to give it more artistic flair. It has a great balance that makes it fluid to read. I also didn't notice any unintentional SPAG errors, which makes it a lot easier to read the poems when they're free from spelling and grammar errors. The meanings of the poems have complexity yet clarity, which is a great balance, and to top it off, they're easy to read due to the clear sentence structure and spelling.

The only minor deductions again come from an accumulation of everything I've said thus far. The clarity of In English could be improved, and the punctuation changes could help generate further meaning from it. That poem could be clearer with some expansions to it, if that makes sense. I won't talk your ear off about it since I already mentioned it throughout the review, but I do want to mention it just so you know where the minor deductions come from, though I don't want to take off much since the clarity is still really good, especially with the SPAG and the direction of the other two poems submitted, so great job!

Conclusion: 10/10. The conclusions presented in the three pieces are very good, particularly the conclusion of Memory Lane, which is literally the title, but it also ties everything together and makes for a good title drop. It wraps up the core theme of the poem well and made me sit there and think, "Huh. That's cool." So, it's safe to say the conclusions have quite the impact, with Memory Lane being my personal favorite of the bunch both in terms of its conclusion and its overall direction. I thought its direction was interesting and made for a nice read. Every poem felt like it came to its natural conclusion, and nothing felt abrupt. I mean if you had to hold me at gunpoint and have me say something, I mean maybe Poetic Mask could have a more literal ending for more snap, but like, nah, I like the ending it has now since I think it shows the theme of the poem well. Overall, no critiques since I think you slayed and ate the endings up.

Title/blurb/cover: 9/10. Monochrome is a wonderful title for a poetry compilation. It's simple and to-the-point, yet also pretty and inspires curiosity about why monochrome was the chosen title. It rolls off the tongue well, and I really think it just feels like a title that would be used for a poetry compilation. No critiques for the title!

The blurb, like the title, is very good. it starts with the definition of monochrome, which is interesting, and then actually expands underneath by saying the types of poems to expect from the compilation. Thank you for including more than just the definition of monochrome! It's nice when compilations include a bit of an artsy blurb with the monochrome theme you have going on here, but also an actual blurb underneath to tell us what to expect. I didn't notice any SPAG errors, either, so you know what that means? No critiques!

The cover is beautiful. It has such a gorgeous color scheme and image, and I love, love, love the concept. I love how it's hard to make out exactly what's happening but also we kinda have an idea, too. It's like I know what's happening but I don't at the same time, haha. I hope that makes sense. But that aside, it's such a pretty cover that fits the monochrome vibe exactly. You did a fantastic job with this cover, and it drew me in immediately.

The only very, very minor thing is that I feel the title and subtext, but subtext in particular, could be just a hair larger because I really struggled to see that subtext until I zoomed far in on my laptop, so it could just be enlarged a bit (and there is enough space on the cover to do so naturally... probably, I'm not a cover designer, but it does look like there's enough space). Otherwise, I thought the cover was fantastic!

Total: 88/100

1st Place

Excavations by SeraDrake

Review:

Poems judged: Vegetarianism, Orphic Hymn, The Snake

Structure: 8/10. Now I'm no poetry guru who knows the ins and outs of the poetic structure, but from what I can tell, the structure is very, very good and formatted correctly. Everything flows well and feels unique, and as I'll mention throughout the review, the SPAG is perfect, making for a fluid reading experience. That when combined with the playful word choice and experimentation with both the structure and the poem ideas makes for a fun, meaningful poetic experience. I can tell you really experimented with this compilation, and it pays off since I found it supremely enjoyable. Is that the right thing to say? Supremely enjoyable? Well, I feel it's the only thing that can capture my awe, so I'll stick with it.

The only minor critique I have is about length and how The Snake had some stanzas that got pretty long and felt like they could have been split up or trimmed, and Orphic Hymn did begin to get a bit long for me, too, though Orphic Hymn is also my favorite so... clearly not a big deal for me when I get more of the content that I like. But I'll talk about Orphic Hymn a lot throughout the review, so I digress. Anywho. The point is that the only very minor critique I have is that the stanza length in The Snake in particular began to get really long, especially when many of the other stanzas were much shorter, and there were just a few here and there that got really long, which felt a bit inconsistent. That being said, The Snake is a fantastic poem with incredible imagery at the beginning that sets the scene right away, so it's still an overall great poem. The overall structure is amazing!

Diversity: 10/10. Each poem not only of the three submitted but in the entire compilation (as I've read much of it before) are unique and feel so unbelievably different from one another. Every single poem you read is dripping with meaning and nuance, creating layers upon layers for the audience to pick away. I believe this is the most layered series of poems I've read in a long time, since my sophomore year in college. The sentence structure and overall poetic structure are also diverse, making for a smooth read. Everything feels so fresh and interesting, and that means I have no critiques for anything related to the poem's diversity!

Themes and emotions: 17/20. The themes and emotions present throughout the poems submitted were awesome. The endings in particular were fantastic and ended on final lines that we're going to remember for a while. I still remember Orphic Hymn's final line, though I digress since there is a conclusion section where I talk about all three of the poems' endings, so I'll save it for there. Still, I wanted to mention it since the endings are big parts of a reader's takeaway from the poems they read, and I think you ended them super duper well. Does anyone still say super duper? Well, I am, and I think you did super duper.

While in this section, I want to point out how unique each theme is, with poems like The Snake inspiring intrigue with the title alone, and then the actual poem itself sucks you in even more. The same can be said for Vegetarianism and Orphic Hymn, where both of them will capture the audience's attention from how fresh they are. I'll mention it throughout the review time and time again, but I've never seen poems with these kinds of themes before, making them extremely memorable (and a big reason why you got a 10/10 in diversity), so amazing job.

The only deductions come from very minor things I'll mention throughout the review and what I mentioned before about The Snake and its stanza length. Most of that is just personal stuff, though, and nothing major. Sometimes The Snake and Orphic Hymn did get a little long and felt like they could have been trimmed, though I'll talk about Orphic Hymn later (it's my favorite!). All that being said, I think the themes and emotions are fantastic and deserve a really high score, so only minor deductions at most. Overall, the themes and emotions are amazing!

Word choice: 15/15. Welp, when it's good, it's good, and I'm not gonna try and stretch for criticisms for sake of having criticisms: the word choice is excellent. Every word is new and fresh, and I don't think I saw the same word repeated more than twice (aside from the purposeful repetition and essentials, of course, like articles and the things you absolutely need). The creativity is off the charts, and some of the phrases used here are just straight up awesome. I.e., "Three silver notes, moonlit agony." Yeah, I don't need to explain myself about why I think that's cool. The repetition of the moon in Orphic Hymn always felt so purposeful and powerful, and I thought it was incredible in that sense. I like how Orphic Hymn is more "pretty" and almost metaphorical while others, like The Snake, focus more on physical descriptions, taking the first stanza to set the scene with heat and sweat, providing vivid imagery for the audience. So, all in all, the word choice was great, and I didn't notice any SPAG errors! No critiques.

Figurative language: 15/15. This entire poetry compilation is a walking piece of figurative language, but the three poems specifically submitted are full of imagery, metaphors, similes, personification, etc. Not a single poem doesn't have some form of figurative language or rhetoric device in it to make it pop and emphasize its meaning. Every line you read will fill you with more meaning, and Orphic Hymn in particular does an excellent job blending words and meanings together to create one coherent poem that feels so magical and mystical, giving the reader an unforgettable experience. If you can't tell by now, Orphic Hymn is my favorite due to its creativity and usage of language, but all of the three poems submitted did this excellently. Like I said in the last section, when it's good, it's good, and I'm not gonna force critiques for sake of having them. No critiques, perfect score.

Clarity: 8/10. The meanings of the poems are overall pretty clear though require more thinking time than average (which is expected from poetry, so that's not a flaw in any way; if anything, it's better that way). However, the real highlight is just how solid the SPAG is, and how you master sentence flow by playing around and experimenting with every sentence. Like I mentioned in the diversity section, everything feels unique and interesting, and it's done in a tasteful way where each theme is handled with care and maturity, same with the lines themselves. The lines feel playful without being over-the-top or overstaying their welcomes. Everything flows well from start to end, and the fantastic spelling and grammar means that readers can read smoothly without having to worry about rereading because they can't understand something. Awesome job.

Orphic Hymn is my favorite as I mentioned before, so this is a minor critique more than anything, though I feel that it did go on a little long and could have been trimmed a bit, but that could also just be a me thing. I try to remain as objective as possible, but it's still a review done by a random person on the internet, so subjectivity will slip in, of course. So that could just be a personal thing and everyone else loves the length, I just personally wasn't a huge fan and thought it could be trimmed by a couple stanzas or so. That being said, the meaning of the poem is still clear, and the ending is fantastic (as you'll see me gush about in the next section). Overall, the poems are very clear and have fantastic SPAG.

Conclusion: 10/10. The conclusions of the poems submitted were all fantastic, with my absolute favorite being Orphic Hymn. The last line of the Hymn is... whew nelly, that hit me right in the feels. It's a powerful final line elevated by a unique idea. There's no real section for the creativity, but I really want to emphasize how creative each idea is, with Vegetarianism being one of the most unique poem ideas I've seen, and I'm sure it symbolizes something beyond... well, vegetarianism, I'm just too dumb to figure it out. But me being dumb is a skill issue and user error, so that's no problem. Anyway, back on topic: all of the poems are so creative and end in the perfect way that wraps up the ideas amazingly. Orphic Hymn seriously hit me, and it's rare I read something and really, and I mean really, get hit in the feels. That was such an incredible poem, and the ending was the cherry on top. But let's not forget The Snake. The Snake, too, had a nice ending that had a memorable final line. All three of them were so creative and had the endings they needed, and I think the readers are going to enjoy reading them a lot.

Title/blurb/cover: 10/10. Excavations is a very interesting title. It makes me think of... well... this may be crazy to say, but... excavations. But really, it makes me think you're about to dig a hole that peers into the realities of the world. Am I being dramatic? Well, I am a Cancer, so I guess I gotta live up to my sign. But, that aside, I have no critiques for the title and think it works well for what you're going for here.

And, also, I normally don't point this out in my title reviews since I want to focus on the actual overall story title, but I really love the titles of the individual pieces, too. Just thought I'd mention that, while we're in the title section.

As for the blurb, I think it's very interesting, and I like the creative twist where you made the blurb a poem in itself, but not a complicated one. It's easy to understand, and we can tell what the poem compilation is going to be about after reading it, and then, underneath the poem, you give some general information that readers should know, which is helpful. I didn't notice anything off about the SPAG. No critiques!

I like the cover! I think it's simple and to-the-point while also inspiring intrigue. I love the style of it. I don't see many covers experiment with these shades combined, so I think they're intriguing to see, and I also liked the visual hierarchy where the text is placed in comparison to the background. It's also pretty clear, and I think the font sizes are good. No critiques, making this one of the few 10/10s I give in this section!

Total: 93/100

Honorable Mention

Spilled Ink by AraWilder

Review:

Poems judge: Sakura, I've Got A Woman Burning In My Soul, and Ballad of a Dry Raincloud

Structure: 10/10. The structure of the poems is solid. I'm no poetry structure guru, but from what I can tell, the structures are, from a technical standpoint, correct. I didn't notice any errors in the way the poems were structured, and I didn't notice any oddities in the punctuation or any areas where I felt like the lines were awkward/too long. The structures were also quite unique and felt like they fit each poem. So, overall, no critiques for the structure, based on my knowledge of poetry. You'd think I'd be more confident with poetic structure considering I took a whole class on it, but meh, whatever. What matters is that I enjoyed it, right? So good job!

Diversity: 10/10. Each and every poem feels so different from one another, with each carrying a different tone and bringing new words and lines to the table to make you feel immersed in the narratives you're crafting. Every tone is so unique with its own blend of flowery language and simplicity that makes them fun to read. I loved every poem, though I'd say I've Got A Woman Burning In My Soul had the most diversity and uniqueness, choosing to go with a refrain that really differentiated itself from the others. Sakura is my personal favorite due to the gorgeous word choice, though I wanted to appreciate the Soul poem, too, because... well, I can tell you put your whole... soul... into it.

(Please laugh)

But that aside, I thought the diversity in the poems was fantastic. You did a great job making everything feel fresh in terms of the poems' themes, structures, and word choice.

Themes and emotions: 15/20. Throughout all the poems I've read, the strength is the themes and emotions. Considering this is the heaviest category in this criteria, it goes without saying that that's a very good thing. Ballad of a Dry Raincloud does an excellent job setting a haunting, depressing mood, using interesting word choice like "a phantom tragedy" to portray the narrator's deepest thoughts. Meanwhile, Sakura has this sense of wonder to it, same with the obvious love going on, but it almost feels like a journey, where the narrator is walking by themselves, trying to make sense of the life they've led thus far. Or, maybe, pondering what wandering life without their lover will entail. And then there's the beauty of Soul, which has so much meaning dripping from it that I honestly thought it was my favorite at first, but Sakura did take my heart in the end. Soul is something I think everyone should read. If you're reading this, open the Melancholia book on Ara's profile and read I've Got A Woman Burning In My Soul. Do it. Trust me. Absolutely fantastic read with an incredible and memorable refrain.

When it comes to critiques, the main critique I have is that Ballad of a Dry Raincloud could benefit from being expanded upon since the middle part of the poem starts to go rapid-fire with its pacing, introducing new potential themes with things like childhood fears and impatience, and all of those themes meshing with the core theme of desiring to be seen is not inherently a bad thing. In fact, I think that's a great idea. I just think it could benefit from being fleshed out more since we touch on those cool themes of childhood fears and impatience, but it quickly reaches the end without much development to the ideas. Poems are normally short, though this is one I feel could have benefitted from being longer to flesh out the awesome ideas more. I also have another thing about the Soul poem, but I already wrote an explanation for it in the next section, so I'll let future me explain. Either way, the themes and emotions are very, very good, and they deserve a high score!

Word choice: 12/15. The word choice throughout the poems submitted was excellent, especially with Sakura, which is my personal favorite of the bunch. Just to name one example from Sakura, though there are plenty more (basically the whole poem), let's look at this: "You were my land of rising sun." It may seem simple, but in the context of the poem, it's wonderful. It doesn't need a hundred pretty words to sound cool, it just does sound cool. But in the context of the poem being themed around Japan, having this line in there was clever, and I chuckled when I saw it since I was like, "Wow, I never would've thought of that. This is why I'm not a good poet." So you did an excellent job with the word choice in Sakura. I could praise Sakura's word choice all day, but there are two other poems, too, and I want to give them the love they deserve as well.

There are many lines throughout Raincloud that I enjoyed, like the "butterfly born blue," or the "flowering lotus." Along with that, the ending using "lovelorn" was very interesting, and it's a beautiful word that says so much. I'd say Raincloud had amazing imagery in that sense; in the sense that the imagery was for emotions rather than physical places. I could really feel the emotions as if they were my own, which was amazing. As for Soul, I love the refrain and how you tie everything together through more clever word choice with the relationship between the woman and the soul. Honestly, they're just amazing poems. I know that's simple to say, and as a reviewer I should probably be trying to be more profound about it, but they're honestly just... good. They really are.

Just a couple two tree things. Let's start with the smallest thing since I feel like a jerk for even pointing it out to begin with, though there's a moment where there appears to be an incorrect its where it should be it's (in the Soul poem). This: "I'm aware its gone cold" instead of "I'm aware it's gone cold." There could also be a semicolon in that line, where it says "I'm still in the water, I'm aware its gone gold" instead of the comma. Those are two very minor things, and they could have been intentional and I'm just being a silly goose right now, but still worth pointing out since they're short poems, and things like that are more noticeable as a result.

Like I mentioned before, there could also be some expansion on the ideas since they're good ideas though end very quickly, like the line "She is the cigarette that I smoke on the pier." Cool line, though I feel it could be expanded on more since these lines are, like I said, cool, though feel a bit isolated since the pacing is very fast. That's expected for poems, so I'm not saying "You gotta make this 20 years long and I should graduate college by the time I'm done reading it." Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I am a Cancer, so I gotta live up to the zodiac sign's dramaticness, right? Anywho, back on topic: I'm not saying you need to extend it a lot, and definitely don't if you're not interested and/or comfortable doing that since I understand poetry can be very personal and also stream-of-conscious, so this is really only a suggestion if you're interested in expanding upon the themes presented here. So, to summarize, there could just be some expansion, though not like too much, like 10+ stanzas. Just a couple more could do the trick. I hope that makes sense! Overall, though, the word choice is absolutely awesome!

Figurative language: 12/15. What I found most interesting about the figurative language present throughout this piece is the extended metaphors, like in the Raincloud poem where you start with the hot water then later say "She is the only heat that I need in this ocean." It's a small, subtle thing that may go unnoticed by many, but I think it's just as important as the major things, like the opening and ending lines (that do fantastic jobs hooking the reader into the poems, by the way).

Another thing I really enjoyed was the Soul poem where the narrator seemed to choose comfort over clarity despite how damaging the comfort could end up being. The narrator reached for the "she" to warm their ocean despite knowing it's not going to end well. The desire to be comforted, to feel that warmth, is what seems to keep the narrator going, and I think that's absolutely beautiful.

Lastly, I love the relationship between being "seen" and being "loved" in Raincloud, and also how self-sabotage is a prominent theme throughout the poem. I love how you connect different verbs to make them feel whole; connected as one. That's yet another smaller thing, but those small details add up to make the poems as solid as they are, and I personally think the little details matter more than even the bigger ones.

Critique-wise, I don't have much, as you can probably tell by the high score of 10+. The only things are things I won't talk your ear off about again, where there could be opportunities to employ more figurative language to describe these feelings and make them, like the cigarette I mentioned earlier, feel more connected to flesh out the concepts within the poems more. They're all fascinating concepts, after all. But overall, the figurative language used here is fantastic!

Clarity: 8/10. The three poems submitted are all very clear and do a good job letting the reader know their intended meanings. They're complex without being so complex that it's just complex for sake of being so, and there's a great balance between the pretty and the simplistic to make all the poems understandable. And as a nice bonus, the spelling, punctuation, and grammar, or SPAG for short, is solid, aside from what I mentioned earlier, but that's no big deal. I overall understood the poems quite well.

The only critiques I have are an accumulation of all I mentioned before about how I felt they could have been expanded on to give them more time to marinate in the reader's mind, though since I already explained that, I won't talk your ear off about it again, especially when the poems are as strong as they are. Overall, you did a great job not only with the clarity, but also with the poems in general!

Conclusion: 8/10. All three of the conclusions in these poems do a great job wrapping up the individual narratives and themes you're portraying, particularly Sakura. If you can't tell by now, I have no critiques for Sakura. I think it's an amazing poem that really touched me, and I loved every second of it. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the other poems, too. In fact, I enjoyed them quite a bit. I've Got A Woman Burning In My Soul is an incredibly profound piece that also spoke to me, and I think everyone should read it. All of the conclusions were fantastic!

Same thing with the last section, the only critiques I have are an accumulation of everything I mentioned before about how it could be cool to expand on Raincloud due to its interesting theming that I'd love to see more of. The concept could benefit from being fleshed out more, but only if you would like to expand on it in the future. But, hey, when my critiques boil down to "I want to see more of your work," I'd say that's both a praise and a critique since it's interesting enough that I would like to see the concepts fleshed out. Overall, great job!

Title/blurb/cover: 10/10. Spilled Ink is an awesome title for a poetry compilation, and I think it works perfectly here, not to mention the SPAG is all good. Therefore, I have no criticisms of the title. Really awesome title! It's super creative and makes me want to read it. Like if I were to imagine poetry as a genre had a cinematic title, this would probably be it.

The blurb is simple and short, but it effectively tells the audience exactly what to expect from the poems. You tell us the genres, the styles, and everything we need to know without getting too heavy into spoiler territory, and to top it off, it has a nice poetic flair to it that makes the word choice stand out without feeling over-the-top. Oh, and another bonus is that the SPAG is flawless. It's a great balance of pretty and informative, and you did an awesome job with the blurb!

The cover perfectly fits in with the title. The image chosen looks gorgeous, and the text is subtle but fits in perfectly with the theme of the cover. It's clear, too, so that's a nice bonus, especially on Wattpad, the site that kinda makes every cover look blurry. So all in all, I have no critiques for the cover!

Total: 85/100

Honorable Mention

Lyricism by Seamlesslove

Review:

Poems judged: Gamble, Someone To Love, Time and Tide.

Structure: 8/10. When it comes to the structure, there were quite a few things that I enjoyed. I liked the stylistic choice in Gamble to have ( ) surrounding certain parts of the words. It made for an interesting and unique break in the structure, and it's unlike anything I've seen before in poetry on Wattpad, so that was a nice touch and way to subvert our expectations while also keeping the structure fresh and intriguing. I also liked how Time and Tide kinda felt like it was structured like a wave, with the way the stanzas swelled in and out on the page, increasing and decreasing in width depending on the stanza. That was a really cool visual effect, especially on laptop where I can see all that clearly (hence why I try to always judge on laptop... it's just better 💯).

I also like the concept of this being considered both poetry and songwriting, hence the title being lyricism. They feel like song lyrics that could be performed to a large crowd in a quiet stadium just appreciating the words, and I think that works really well! It's a cool idea, and I think you blended the lyrics together well from a structural standpoint.

The only minor critique I have is you may want to consider having a little more space between stanzas, simply because some of them blended together and looked like they were all one due to the tiny spacing between them. This mostly applies to Gamble, by the way. The italics and ( ) made the stanzas look closer together than they actually were, while in Someone To Love and Time and Tide, it was easier to tell the stanzas apart. I say this because it can make everything look like it's running together, especially on laptop where there's more screen space, so it crams more words in a single line, so that is something worth considering but overall not a big deal.

Overall, the structure of the poems is great and does a solid job getting the reader immersed in your words.

Diversity: 8.5/10. I read three poems for this review, and all three of them were pretty unique in terms of their structures and messaging. The themes had some similarities, and the language did convey the same overall tone I'd say, but that's fine since all three of those poems needed those tones, and they had different messaging in the grand scheme of things. So I think when it comes to the diversity, you did a great job! Everything feels fresh and interesting, and I enjoyed reading all of them.

The only minor deduction comes from potentially adding some more variety with the emotions themselves by including more sensory details and evoking more in the sense of smell, taste, sight, touch, hearing and all that good stuff, since a lot of the emotions are told to us, and it could be beneficial to diversify more there, though I'll explain this point throughout the review. I'm just bringing it up now so you know where the minor deduction comes from.

But overall, the diversity is really good, and the poem ideas are great!

Themes and emotions: 16/20. The themes and emotions present throughout the poems are strong, especially the themes being so interesting. Comparing love and life to a gamble is so true, and while it has been done quite a few times in the past, I do like the unique avenue you take it with refrains. I've always said that it doesn't matter if things have been done a lot before, it's more about the individual execution, and you make it more interesting by having it be like a song with refrains and clear patterns that make it so we can fill in the blanks with a beat. I kinda imagine an acoustic beat, but maybe that's just me, haha.

I'll probably mention it again later if I haven't mentioned it already (I have a goldfish memory), but Time and Tide is my favorite due to its powerful ending and engaging structure that makes it stand out. I thought it had awesome emotional depth and did a good job giving us several layers to peel away. I love it when you give us space to read between the lines and really digest what we're reading. It's awesome!

The only deductions come from something I'll explain in the next two sections, though I will mention it here so you know where they are coming from: many times the emotions are told to us with explicitly clear phrases, and there is also some overuse of cliche phrases that could be downsized on to help amplify the emotions and make them feel more layered. I'll explain that more in the next two sections, though I wanted to mention it here since that does impact the emotions a lot. The themes are very good and I have no critiques for the concepts of the themes, the emotions could just use some minor tweaks to really give them that extra emphasis. But, overall, the themes and emotions are solid!

Word choice: 12.5/15. The word choice is a mix between simple and complex, making it so nothing feels overly flowery. You can definitely get away with more flowery language in poetry since it's meant to be more metaphorical, though I'm glad you didn't go too far and kept it down-to-earth when needed (like in Gamble) but also more metaphorical in other places (like Time and Tide). I think that makes for a great balance that had me hooked. Like I've mentioned time (pun intended) and time again, Time and Tide was my favorite of the bunch because it had such a cool message about how the tide drowns you, just like time. At least, that was my interpretation of it, and why I felt tide and time were used together to create a sound poem. But my interpretation aside, I enjoyed how you weaved figurative language throughout to make everything feel more real and personal.

Y'know, actually, I think that's the best word to use to describe the word choice—personal. The voice is slightly different in each poem, but still feels so personal and relatable, making for an engaging read that is definitely worth your time, and I think everyone should go give these underrated poems a chance.

There are some cliche phrases here and there, which isn't inherently a bad thing, though considering you also have a lot of creativity, it could be cool to see you experiment with the word choice more here and there. "Nothing lasts forever" and "This world is a [cruel] gamble" are both pretty cliche phrases, but they do matter to your song, it could just be interesting to see more diversity since there is quite a few of these cliche phrases present throughout the poems. It's not a big deal if they're sprinkled here and there since cliches aren't inherently bad things, but it could get a bit overbearing at times, and diversifying and implementing more senses and figurative language instead could be beneficial to bringing out more of the emotions, if that makes sense. Not too much since I do like Gamble's simplicity, though it could just be interesting to see some more, is all.

It could also be beneficial to show the emotions a bit more. There is a presence of cliches and also a lot of the narrators of the poems directly telling us feelings or on the other hand being a little vague about them. For example, the wordless tune in Gamble could be expanded on a bit since it's repeated but not too much more is given to it. It feels like a central part of the poem but doesn't feel as fleshed out as it could be, so there could be more emphasis given to it and some more sensory details to help make it feel more integral to the poem like the formatting seems to imply it is. I hope that makes sense! Overall, the word choice throughout the poems is good!

Figurative language: 13/15. There were plenty of great usages of figurative language present throughout the three pieces submitted for this contest. For example, I liked how the time and tide were like metaphors for the bigger pictures in life, acting as a warning for anyone who is scared of time, scared of change, and scared of the tide consuming them. It's an interesting piece of language that adds another layer to the poem, and I think Time and Tide is my overall favorite piece of the three submitted due to the beautiful formatting and themes that make it so engaging.

There's also a bit of personification sprinkled throughout, which is my personal favorite piece of figurative language, so I acknowledge I may be biased, but I enjoyed that a lot, like the heart crying in the Gamble poem was personification that I enjoyed. It is a bit of a cliche phrase, but cliches aren't inherently bad, so I appreciated that you included personification throughout your pieces. Especially since you go on to compare the heart to a puzzle, which I thought was both sad and amusing since it's ridiculous to think about the heart as an actual puzzle, but it is true, and sadly true at that.

Like I mentioned in the above section, you do have some cliche phrases that could be replaced with more powerful figurative language like metaphors and similes, but that's not a huge deal since it didn't detract from the overall feel of the poems. I enjoyed them nonetheless, though if you ever wanted to add more figurative language, I think you could! You don't need to force it or overdo it by any means, but sprinkling some here and there could be interesting to give more specific emotion to the poems, if that makes sense. But, overall, I think you effectively use figurative language to tell an interesting story through your songs/poems, and it works well.

Clarity: 8/10. The clarity of the poems is pretty good. I don't think I noticed any unintentional (or even intentional) grammar or spelling errors. Everything is clean and polished, making for a clear, engaging reading experience. The messages of the poems are also pretty clear. They have clear direction where they start and end in places that make sense, and the middle weaves details that are necessary to get us to the point you want to get us to, making everything feel fluid. The structure is pretty good aside from the one thing I mentioned before, which also makes for a fluid, engaging reading experience. I never had to stop to reread anything because I didn't get it and was confused. I had to stop to reread because I wanted to delve deeper into the words, but there were no drastic SPAG errors that distracted me or anything that felt overly complex, if that makes sense. So, good job!

The only very minor deduction comes from the structural thing I said before where Gamble was a bit hard to read at times due to the stanzas being a bit squished together at times and the word choice can sometimes be a bit vague, but that's a very minor thing I'm not going to take off much for since I think that'd be unfair. So, overall, the clarity within the poems is great!

Conclusion: 10/10. The conclusions for the poems are great! Gamble in particular ends well, ending with what feels like a startling revelation that the poem led to over time with its language and structure. They always end in a way that wraps them up well, and I think you did a good job making the reader feel like they went on a journey with you. None of them had jarring or abrupt endings that made me puzzled or anything of the sort. I'd say my favorite ending of the bunch was Time and Tide due to the weight the ending line carries and how the rhymes form a great melody that feels like a dance. That makes sense considering these are like song lyrics. They're also all grammatically correct, and I didn't notice any SPAG errors for the endings. No critiques for your conclusions.

Title/blurb/cover: 8/10. Lyricism is a great title that implies there's going to be deep artistic material present inside the story, which is true, so, welp, there you go! It works! It's capitalized as needed and looks great. No critiques!

The blurb is another thing that's good. It feels very stream-of-consciousness and has that approachable feel to it. It gives the reader the exact details they need to know what's happening in your work without spoiling too much, so it's a great balance. You identify the genre and what the reader should expect going into it. It can be tough to make a blurb for a poetry compilation—or any compilation, for that matter—but you did so very well. No critiques!

The cover has a kind of rustic? Is that the right word? Yeah, let's go with "rustic" vibe. I like the ferris wheel picture and how you edited it. I thought going for that more "rustic" feel was a clever idea since it gave the cover more intrigue. The picture is already interesting, but the effects added to it were cool, too. I also liked the font of Lyricism and thought it was cool how it was like typography, like we're staring at a typewriter as I look at the cover. Awesome visuals there!

The only critiques I have are that the tagline is a bit difficult to see due to the effects, so it could be beneficial to tune down the effects of the piece just a bit since it also makes it a bit grainy and almost feel oversaturated where the colors are popping a bit too much and feel like they have too much heat/coolness (depending on where they lay on the color wheel), so it could be beneficial to tune it down a bit, but it's otherwise a cool cover with a creative visual appeal.

Total: 84/100

REVIEWS:

Versification by Aein_Yeobo7

Review:

Structure: 7.5/10. The overall structure of the poems is good. As I'll mention in the next section, you do a good job being diverse about it both in terms of themes and in terms of structure. I like how you experiment and never write about the same thing twice, and the structure also changes depending on the poem, not becoming repetitive or anything like that. You play around with different formats that make it seem interesting and fresh to read. I'm not the best with critiquing poetic structure as I'm not the best with the ins and outs the way a seasoned poet would be, but from what I can tell, it looks pretty good aside from what I'll mention below.

For the first poem, you may want to consider a little more coherent structure since it goes back and forth between some lines that are really long and others that are a handful of words at most, which can be a bit visually jarring since it's center-aligned and poetry, so some more synergy between the sentences could be interesting. I'm not saying they all have to be the same length, but a little more symmetry could be interesting to see.

Another thing is to consider making the transitions to dialogue within the poems a bit smoother, i.e. this: Letting a heavy sigh, "Why you are all silent?" Consider: With a heavy sigh, I ask, "Why are you all silent?" This small tweak shows the dialogue more clearly thanks to the presence of the tag, and the dialogue is tweaked to flow a bit smoother and in more natural English.

There are also frequent grammar and spelling errors (but more grammar errors than spelling errors) throughout that make it a bit hard to follow at times. It's expected for poetry to not have 100% conventional grammar and proper spelling since poets often break those rules to give poems more meaning, but I'm talking about moments that didn't feel purposeful or ended up feeling awkward even if it did seem purposeful; however, I already explained this in future categories in this review, so I'll let future me explain. Either way, I wanted to mention it here so you know where the deductions come from. But future me will explain in more detail with examples and suggestions.

Diversity: 8/10. The emotions and themes present throughout are diverse, and you're not using the same structure and theme over and over. You experiment and play around with what types of poems you write, along with experimenting with what styles you write, which makes for an interesting reading experience. I felt like the read was definitely worth my time and gave me a lot of things to think about, which is very good.

There are some repetitive phrases here and there, and while repetition can be really effective for poetry, a few of these repetitive moments didn't feel intentional, so I'll mark them here. "Garden full of flowers" is used twice, but it doesn't feel like intentional repetition. So the deductions come from things like that where there was some repetition that didn't feel purposeful. Another example is "But her doe but emotionless eyes" repeating the but. The repetition of the but doesn't feel natural, so I would recommend tweaking lines like that.

Overall, the diversity is pretty good. You do a solid job introducing new topics every chapter, and the topics themselves are things I feel are less-covered in the poetry genre, so good job experimenting! I encourage you to keep writing about the lesser-written-about topics such as these since they're a lot of fun to read!

Themes and emotions: 17/20. The themes throughout the poems are particularly interesting, like the first poem is about misconception, the second poem is very freeing and love-filled, the third is quite literally a nightmare, and so on and so on. Many of the themes throughout are themes I don't see as often in poetry, especially the first poem's theme about misconception of another person. I thought that was particularly interesting and did a good job showing your creative mind and how these concepts can be so... human. Maybe that's a silly thing to say, but the core of these poems are so fundamentally human and relatable that I really felt touched by quite a few, and I can't overstate how much I thought the themes were great!

The only critiques are things I mentioned throughout the review and will continue to mention later, but there could be some more dynamic word choice and figurative language to help give extra emotion to the poem, and there were some seemingly unintentional grammar and spelling errors that disrupted the flow here and there, though I will explain more about this in the clarity section.

Overall, I thought the themes and emotions were some of the best parts of your work, as you made incredibly interesting themes that didn't deal with the average themes I see covered in a lot of shorts and poems, so great job with the creativity!

Word choice: 9.5/15. The word choice present throughout is fine and works for most poems. I particularly liked the chamber poem and the word choice there to make the chamber feel so alive. I liked the use of "giggles," "harsh," and "silence," though I also just took a sound studies course and studied silence a lot, so maybe I'm a bit biased toward the "silence"...

But that aside, I still overall liked the word choice and thought it did its job for the poems, particularly the chamber one. I have a few critiques, though.

Similarly to what I mentioned in diversity, there could be some diversity within the word choice since there was a lot of what felt like unintentional repetition or awkward repetition of certain words, or saying the same thing twice but slightly differently (which isn't inherently a bad thing—especially in poetry). I won't talk your ear off about it again since I already mentioned it before, but when you see a lot of repetition when you're reading back your works, consider changing it up, since there are moments like, "Very quiet, very silent" that can be interesting, though you're saying "quiet" and "silent" back-to-back, and in the context of the poem, it could be tweaked. Maybe have one of them (i.e., the "very quiet") stay, though change the other one to something to represent the girl's isolation or emotion more, if that makes sense.

Another thing is I think you can amp up the language if you want to. It's very rare for me to recommend to authors to use more complex language since I am a certified hater of purple prose, but there is a difference between complex language and purple prose (I normally just hold back from recommending people amp up their language out of worry they may amp it up too much and become purple prose writers). But I think you could benefit from amping up the language to be more advanced using online thesaurus and experimenting a little more with the word choice. Though, if you are going to start implementing more synonyms for words (i.e., "dash" instead of "run," "gaze" instead of "look"), I would recommend running them through a grammar checker and reading them out loud since it can be easy to use a synonym that sounds cool but it ends up sounding awkward in the text. So I would recommend implementing a little more complex language, if that makes sense.

Overall, the word choice is fine for the poems and has moments where it really shines, it could just use some tweaks to help make it have extra emotion.

Figurative language: 12.5/15. One of the key elements used here is repetition, a rhetoric device that isn't quite figurative language, but since it's a device, I will consider it for this category. There is some repetition that I felt wasn't intentional, but also plenty that I felt was, like poem 7 repeating "the chamber" over and over, which I thought was interesting and made for a unique usage of a rhetoric device.

More specifically about figurative language, there were quite a few examples that I enjoyed. For example, in poem 4, the entire thing is a personification of people, where the cat and the bunny represent soulmates—people. I thought that was a great usage of personification. Personally, personification is my favorite figurative device, and I thought you did an excellent job introducing it and showing human concepts through animal eyes.

Critique-wise, I don't have too much, and the only thing I have is what I said before. Like I mentioned in the word choice section, there could be a bit more complexity, especially since many of these topics you're dealing with are unique and have many layers to them. You do give them nice layers, though consider adding more similes, more metaphors, more onomatopoeia (depending on the poem—i.e., maybe the chamber poem has more onomatopoeia to represent the different memories, and the onomatopoeia is like an echo of a memory in the chamber), etc. Definitely don't force it in just for sake of having more as that's not what I'm saying at all, though consider some more here and there to help elevate the emotions further since poetry is a great avenue to use more figurative language. I hope that makes sense!

Clarity: 7.5/10. When it comes to the messages of the poems, I was never confused about what you were trying to say with them. I thought the themes were very clear, even without the author's notes talking about them, though I do appreciate the author's notes talking about your intended meaning since it's always cool to see an author's thoughts about the piece they wrote. No one knows the piece better than the writer, after all. So I thought it was great that you had such clear messages, though there was subtle lines sprinkled throughout to add more layers so it wasn't too obvious either. It was a nice balance that I enjoyed reading. Like I said before, I think your themes are fantastic and super unique, so to have them also be clear was a great touch!

There are frequent grammar and spelling errors present throughout the poems. For example: "His one shine is equal to million smiles." There needs to be an "a" in front of the million. It's okay to break free from traditionally spellings and grammar norms during poetry. In fact, most poets do just that, so I'm not saying make sure everything is 100% grammar and spelling-error free, though my recommendation would be to make sure the errors that are there are very intentional, since the majority of the errors present did not feel intentional. There were a lot of missing articles (a, an, the), like the example I gave, so I would recommend making some tweaks to ensure the articles are given to their necessary nouns. Spelling-wise, there were a few errors, like "He clams me" instead of "he calms me" in poem 5 (the previous example is from 5 as well). There weren't as many spelling errors as grammar errors, but still a few to consider.

Overall, the messages were pretty clear and did a good job portraying themselves to the audience, there could just be some tweaks to the grammar and spelling to help make the sentences flow more smoothly. I hope that makes sense!

Conclusion: 7.5/10. Your conclusions to your poems are overall pretty solid, feeling like they stop naturally instead of dragging out unnecessarily or stopping where it doesn't feel like a good place to stop. You wrap up the themes in a meaningful way, often revealing the truth right at the end (i.e., poems 1 and 4) to act as a cute little revelation to make the point of the poem clear. From beginning to end, it works well, and I think you did an overall good job with the ends of the poems.

Just minor critiques. For starters, the ending of the second poem could be tweaked since the final line uses "blooming" twice, and not in a way that feels fluid, so it could be interesting to diversify the word choice there. The ending of poem one is solid, same with poem two, though poem four could benefit from being fleshed out more. Poem four had a fantastic theme. I loved it and thought it was one of the best themes in the compilation, showing people who can't live without one another through the eyes of two animals and personifying them. So that's why I would have loved to see them fleshed out a little more, since it's such an interesting concept to see human emotions portrayed through personification. That being said, I did like the ending line of that poem, so I still did overall like it. And, hey, if the critique is "I want to see more," I'd say you're definitely on the right track.

So, overall, the conclusions of the poems are solid and deserve a high score, there could just be some minor tweaks here and there.

Title/blurb/cover: 6.5/10. The title is beautiful. I think it works really, really well for the poetry compilation and does a good job inspiring curiosity within the reader. This definitely feels like a title that would match the poetry genre well, so you're genre-matching perfectly. I overall have no criticisms for the title.

The blurb is as follows:

A book where you will find poetry.

All poetry is written by me so I have all copyrights with me

Hope you will enjoy....

The blurb is a bit vague since, while it does tell us the basic premise (it is, in fact, a book where there's poetry), it could use some more expansion to let readers know what they're going to be reading. For example, what kind of poems do you write? Free verse? Lyrical? Narrative? Those are some things you can consider adding. What about themes? Any hints at what kind of themes we'll unpack? Love? Death? Robots? (sorry, I couldn't resist making a LDR reference—Love, Death & Robots is a TV show, for anyone who does not know). But references aside, could you give audiences a bit more to see? I would recommend checking out the blurb for Morsels by SeraDrake (on Wattpad, and also a participant in this category). Sera does an excellent job showing the reader what to expect from Morsels (a short story compilation) without going too in-detail. I hope all of what I said makes sense!

The cover has a beautiful background image that I think works wonders with the title. It feels like this beautiful blend of meaning, having this gorgeous sunset mixed with the gorgeous title. It was a great pick for your cover image, so great job with that.

The only critique I have is I'm not a huge fan of the fonts used and the text placement. I feel the title is very elegant, and the sunset is very emotionally profound and hints at what's to come within the narrative, so I feel having a more elegant font (maybe something cursive? Or something like Alegreya or Adamina) could have been beneficial. I hope that makes sense!

Total: 76/100

No Poet - No Poetry by darkish323

Review:

Structure: 7/10. The structure of the poems throughout is very interesting. All of them have unique structures, with none of them feeling the same. You experiment in every single poem, which I find an admirable trait. The first poem has a super experimental structure, and I enjoyed seeing it since it was so interesting. I loved the use of WE in that poem and thought it was a cool meaning mixed with an unconventional style, so I think you did an overall great job with the structure!

My main critique is there could be a little more consistency with the intentional SPAG errors. In poetry, it's expected for there to be intentional spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors since the frequent excess spacing and inconsistent capitalization was a bit hard to follow at times. And, by the way, I'm all for lowercasing things like I for more impact, and to make the "I" feel smaller. I like that! Though I just recommend more consistency with it since sometimes the I is capitalized, and other times it isn't (first poem), or also in the first poem, sometimes we is WE, sometimes it's We, and other times it's we, which got a little confusing and hard to follow, if that makes sense. But I still overall think you did great with the structure.

Diversity: 10/10. The diversity of the poems is super good! Every poem brings a new cool message to it, each one feeling so vastly different from the last, and I loved how it felt like a whole new world we were being transported to through your eyes. Like I mentioned in the previous section, the structures were all unique, and none of them were the same. You played around and experimented with your themes and structure, making for an interesting read that made this poetry compilation feel super unique. It would definitely stand out in the algorithm for its willingness to do things differently and experiment. Great job! I have no critiques for the diversity within the poem compilation!

Themes and emotions: 14/20. Like I mentioned in the previous section, the diversity of the topics you cover is awesome. I loved how each poem brought about a new meaning down to the way it was structured, with the structure playing a huge role in the takeaway readers will have from the poems. That kept the emotions at an all-time high, and I'd say one of the most emotional poems was the Rain one. On the surface, the other two poems could be seen as more complex, and they're good in that regard, but for me, I thought the simplicity of the Rain poem (in terms of how it approached the concept of life) was really interesting and emotionally profound. It was a really fun read, and I thought that poem in particular did a great job bringing new emotions to light and giving the readers an interesting reading experience.

My critiques are mainly what I said before about being careful with using excess punctuation, that way the reader can remain immersed in the scene as using multiple of the same ending punctuation could be harmful to the reader's comprehension of the narrative you're trying to present to us, so it does take away from the themes and emotions. The same applies to flow since there were some flow issues with SPAG and inconsistencies that made the poems feel not as cohesive as they could have, but I'll explain this in the clarity section since I wrote an explanation for it already down there (I write reviews out of order and wrote that part first). But overall, I think the themes and emotions present throughout the poems were good!

Word choice: 11.5/15. The word choice throughout is pretty good and does a good job matching with what's going on in the story, like the Rain poem does a good job capturing the audience's attention with its unique scenarios, jumping between life situations and using unique language to capture it. For example, using the guitar in the beginning of the Rain poem was a cool choice that I thought gave the poem an added layer to peel apart. I also liked the rotten flower petals in the Midnight Forest poem, and the broken wings right after that. Throughout all three of the poems, there was strong word choice that felt intriguing to read and caught my attention.

When it comes to critiques, there could be more clarity and fluidity to the words and sentences, but I already wrote a detailed explanation for this in the clarity section, where I go over some grammar errors and some confusing moments. But I wanted to mention that here to explain where the deductions come from, though future me will cover it in more detail. I also felt Midnight Forest could have had more imagery, though that I'll explain in the next section. Overall, the word choice is good and does what it needs to for the poems to hit their desired emotions.

Figurative language: 11/15. One thing I like about the figurative language here is the interesting imagery present throughout the Rain poem, with the narrator drinking their tears and describing the stages of life, like a baby in a hospital, a kiss shared, love, etc. I think the way the rain poem cycles between the phases of life was done in a beautiful way, packed with figurative language and emotion that I think will really move the audience.

My main critique is I think you can sprinkle in more imagery here and there. For example, in the Midnight Forest poem, you have an awesome concept! I think it's a great theme that I'd love to see more of, and you overall did a good job with it. The only thing I would say is that we don't get much vivid detail and imagery of this cool midnight forest until the fourth stanza, and by then, we're over halfway done with it, so it could be fun to have some more imagery implemented to really set the stage for these poems, if that makes sense. So I think there are a lot of opportunities to implement more figurative language, especially imagery, though I overall think the figurative language present throughout works for the poems.

Clarity: 7/10. I'd say the overall clarity is good. When it comes to the messages of the poems, I'd say they're pretty clear, and the structure, like I mentioned before, does a good job helping to portray those messages. You overall have clear direction, with the poems starting off strong and continuing to stay strong throughout their short runtimes. All of them have clear meanings that are expressed in interesting ways, which means that readers are going to have a lot to think about after reading your work. I particularly like the meaning of When it was "WE," and I think you did a good job making that poem's meaning clear!

My main critique is what I said throughout the review: I would recommend removing the extra spaces between punctuation marks (commas, periods/full stops, question marks, etc.) and words, like Will you miss me ?? (first poem). I would recommend: Will you miss me? And that brings me to my next thing: I would recommend only using one punctuation mark, like if you're using question marks, consider using just one (?) instead of two (??). I say this because it can be a bit distracting to see the second one, and it can also take away from the meaning as one is pretty standard and does what it needs to, and adding another can risk coming off as overdramatic or taking away meaning from the sentences, if that makes sense. There were also some general SPAG (spelling, punctuation, and grammar) errors present throughout the poems, and/or awkward sentences, like the last line of Midnight Forest (which I'll show in the next section and explain why it's a bit awkward). So there could just be some smoothening to the presentation to make it more fluid to read. But, all in all, the messages of the poems are clear, which is the most important thing.

Conclusion: 7.5/10. The conclusions of the poems are all in all pretty solid. They wrap up your core ideas well and do a good job making the reader feel complete. The themes you're displaying are super unique, with Midnight Forest being my favorite due to its mystical feel and nature, and how it makes you really feel like you're in the middle of a forest, consuming this compilation with curiosity. And the conclusions to those ideas are solid, making us feel like we went on a journey with you. Like a safari, maybe. Haha, maybe not, okay, that was a bit dramatic, but I think you get what I mean! The poems start and end well, feeling well-balanced and entertaining to read.

My main critique is that the endings could benefit from smoothening out to the structure in the final lines. For example, Midnight Forest's last line is: "Be careful, the dream are their and not your." I feel it would be more natural and fluid to say: "Be careful, for the dreams are theirs and not yours" or something of the sort, if that makes sense. The endings have a few spacing errors that can make them a bit difficult to read as well, like I mentioned in the previous section where there are frequent excess spaces between punctuation marks and words. But other than those two things, I think the conclusions do a good job wrapping up the themes of the story, so good job!

Title/blurb/cover: 8/10. The title is No Poet - No Poetry, and I think that's cute and works for the compilation. It's simple and to-the-point, but it also has layers to it where the reader has their curiosity piqued. They'll have questions like "No poet? No poetry? What does that mean? Is it poetry? Huh?" And I mean that in a good way. The readers are left curious to see more and will likely click on the book. I like the title! No critiques.

The blurb has an interesting concept, though it was a little confusing upon my first couple reads. I do think the last line is good, though, and it's very interesting, though the inconsistency of the grammar and punctuation was a little confusing. The i's being lowercase was interesting, but I was unsure if it was intentional or not since there are two i's that are capitalized, and no other words that seem intentionally lowercase, so I would recommend a bit more consistency with that, and also, I would recommend removing the excess space in this sentence: "Give it a try ." There's an extra space between the "try" and full stop/period. So the blurb does have a cool concept, and I like how you start by establishing an opinion about emotions and capturing the reader's attention that way, and I like the last line, too, it could just use some tweaks to the consistency to help make it more clear. I hope that makes sense!

The cover is beautiful. That background image is SO gorgeous. I also like the text and font. I think it's really cute and fits in with the title and flower on the cover. It's a really aesthetically pleasing cover that caught my eye immediately, and I thought it was beautiful from my first glimpse at it. I have no critiques for it and think the cover is absolutely gorgeous.

Total: 76/100

My Heart, My Sanctuary by Aravis-Brightspell

Review:

Poems judged: Rain-filled Nights, Edge of Dawn, Second Chance

Structure: 8.5/10. I think the structures presented throughout the compilation are intriguing and make for a fun read. For example, the Rain-filled Nights poem has an interesting structure that may seem standard, with there being traditional stanzas and a small and less noticeable rhyme scheme waiting to be discovered, and I think it strongly elevates the theme and overall vibe of the poem. It's a rain-filled night. Simple, aesthetic, enjoyable, and I think the structure enhances that. So I overall think the structure work is good!

My only critique is something I'll explain in the next section, so I won't talk your ear about it too much here as I already wrote an explanation for it in the next section, though I will say here that my one critique is there could have been more diversity within the structures and more experimentation with the formatting and style, though again, I'll explain that next section, I just wanted to mention it so you know where the minor deduction comes from. Overall, the structures of the poems submitted were great!

Diversity: 7/10. When it comes to the story ideas, they're pretty good and diverse. Rain-filled Nights and Second Chance almost feel at direct odds to one another, and Edge of Dawn starts a little similar to Rain-filled Nights, but the ending is where it diverts and has its own unique identity, making each poem feel individual and diverse from one another, and I appreciated that a lot!

All of the poems submitted are four-line stanzas and very short, and that's not inherently a bad thing. It could just be nice to see a bit of diversity within the structure and how you display these awesome themes since there's a lot to unpack, so it could be interesting to play around with the structure and really go ham, if that makes sense. So when it comes to the diversity of the structure, it could be tweaked a bit to be a little more unique per poem, but I still think the diversity of the ideas themselves is good!

Themes and emotions: 15/20. The themes and emotions throughout the poems are strong, doing a good job feeling diverse where not one poem is the same in terms of its meaning, giving the reader a unique experience. One of my favorite aspects of it was how you compared things to feelings, like the rain-filled nights had the premise of the rain that transitioned into the feeling of emptiness and searching for the silhouette of the "you," which I thought was an amazing, emotionally profound element of the poem that had me hooked. Or how in Second Chance you use violent imagery to portray emotion, which I thought was a clever usage of imagery and did a good job showing the narrator's anguish. All three of the poems had fantastic usages of emotions in particular, which elevated their individual meanings and hence why this section got a high score.

The only deductions come from what I mentioned about how it could be cool to see more experimentation with the structure, and it could also be cool to see an expansion on these themes. Another thing is I have some critiques for the word choice, though I already wrote an explanation in the next section, so I'll explain that throughout the review, but particularly in the next section since I talk about word choice and cliches. Overall, the themes and emotions present throughout the poems were good.

Word choice: 11/15. There are some really cool moments present throughout the poems, such as in Second Chance, which is probably my favorite of the three submitted. For starters, there's an interesting capitalization of the word "Power" in that poem, which is a really small thing, but capitalizing something can... well, give it power. So I thought that was a cool choice, and I liked how you played around with the very structure of nouns like that to give them more emphasis. Another line I really liked, also in Second Chance, was "The truth does quake with dreadful force." I thought that was awesome and made for a unique line with a lot of depth inside it. All of the poems had incredible lines like those that made them feel complex yet clear at the same time.

The deductions come from the overuse of cliches. Cliches aren't inherently bad things by any means, though your word choice and sentence play are good enough that I feel you don't need to rely on so many. Like in Edge of Dawn there's "dying light," "darkest hour," "shadows of your waking dreams" (esp. the waking dreams part), etc., also "turbulent shores" in Second Chance. Many of these lines are used frequently in poems and novels, so it could be interesting to play around a little more with them. It's not a huge huge deal, but it could harm the emotions at times because of the familiarity reminding us of other works, and I feel, like I said before, that you have strong enough word choice that you could definitely experiment more. I've certainly seen a lot of your works, and you're great with words, so I encourage you to keep playing around with it! Overall, I still think the word choice is good and works for the poems and their intended messages.

Figurative language: 13/15. The figurative language present throughout the poem is solid, doing a good job providing the reader with interesting imagery and metaphors to get attached to. For example, the entirety of Edge of Dawn feels like one giant metaphor that uses clever word choice and word play to suck the reader in. There are some powerful lines that may seem like oxymorons but can be peeled apart to give them more meaning, such as "Only in dreams do I dream of you." Like I mentioned in the last section, there were also moments of interesting choices with how you arranged your words, with Power being capitalized in Second Chance, which was very intriguing to read. You all in all do a good job capturing the reader's attention with powerful language like that.

Critique-wise, the only thing I'd say is the thing I mentioned before about potentially expanding and diversifying a bit more in terms of word choice since there were a lot of cliches that could have been replaced with stronger figurative language, and I'd also just like to see more of the poems in general, though those aren't big deals and don't warrant taking off many points, especially when the figurative language present throughout the poems is overall good!

Clarity: 8.5/10. The messages present in the three poems submitted were very clear, and to top it all off, they had easy-to-read SPAG, and I don't think I noticed any errors, at least not any unintentional errors. I wasn't confused by anything said within the poems, which means that it was clear, earning this section a high score.

The only deductions come from what I mentioned before (I apologize if I sound like a broken record by this point) about considering downsizing on the cliches and considering expanding on these themes more since there is a lot of material here that I think you can use. I'd be curious to see more and to see more figurative language and different word choice to make the messages even deeper. Otherwise, I think the clarity is good!

Conclusion: 8.5/10. There are quite a few positive things to say about the endings to these poems. For starters, Rain-filled Nights has an awesome ending. The last line is so impactful, and the way you spaced it out from the rest of the words was a great choice that made it feel so individual and isolated, which is one way to interpret that moment—the narrator wants to be isolated in time, and wants time not to move, and yet, it moves anyway, leaving him alone in a different sense. A worse sense. Worse than isolation itself, it is pure solitude that time enforces, which I find really, really interesting. That's just my interpretation of it, anyway. But anywho, as you can tell, I think the conclusions are pretty solid.

The only minor critique I have is that the ending of Edge of Dawn didn't hit me the same way as the other two. I feel like that poem could have been expanded upon more since there are cool ideas in there and it's pretty short. When I mentioned earlier to consider playing around with different structures, I feel this is one of the poems that could have benefitted from being played around with a bit since it has such a fascinating and maybe even fantastical idea that could warrant going really all out with the experimentation of the structure and word choice. So it could have been cool to see a bit more expansion on that poem, but otherwise, I thought the conclusions of the poems were great!

Title/blurb/cover: 8.5/10. The title being My Heart, My Sanctuary is very thought-provoking and interesting. It's vivid and paints a nice image in our minds about the sentimental value the story will have, and it definitely feels very poetry-esque. Everything is punctuated and capitalized as needed, too, which is an added bonus. No critiques for the title.

The blurb, like the title, is solid. It's pretty but not so pretty that it becomes impossible to comprehend or pretentious. It lacks SPAG errors, which is another bonus and one of the things that most people get points deducted for. It tells the reader what you're going to cover throughout the compilation. Great job with the blurb, and great job having a balance between the pretty and the actual progression where we figure out what's going on within the narrative!

The cover has a cool concept of going for the style of older book covers with the graininess, and I don't want to say "saturated" but woven feel? I think woven is the better word, where it's like you can see stitch marks on the cover. I also really enjoy the border on the outside of the book, the white border and the little slab of green bordering the four corners of the cover. I think that's an awesome touch that really made it stand out.

The only minor critique I have is the graininess could potentially be turned down just a bit since there are a lot of scratches to the point where it can be hard to read the text, especially the subtext on top. I think the subtext is large enough, I think it's just the amount of graininess on the cover makes it a bit unclear, at least on my laptop. I had to zoom in a lot to be able to read it clearly. It could also be interesting to see the My Heart, My Sanctuary moved down a bit to be more align with the author's name, though I'm not sure if that would work or not, that's just a random possibility. I'm no graphic designer, after all, so I'd definitely suggest getting second opinions before making any changes, though it could be interesting to play around with. Overall, I thought the cover was super interesting and made for a cool visual while feeling super poetry-esque!

Total: 80/100

Journey to the Depth of my Soul by Saramitra_

Review:

Poems judged: breathe, hiraeth, let this be untitled

Structure: 8/10. The structures present throughout the poems are great. I really liked how you took similar structures but proceeded to give them individual styles that made them unique and feel individual, like Breathe having the repetition of the three words that changed depending on the context of the poem. You do a good job making the structure feel interesting to look at. I'm glad I judged on laptop instead of phone or tablet since the additional screen size allowed me to appreciate the line and stanza length more. That was just a side note but anywho, what I mean to say is I liked the structures present throughout the poems. Awesome job!

The only deduction comes from some issues with the grammar and some awkward moments here and there that made some sentences not as structured as they could have been, though I will explain that in far more detail later on and explain the grammar errors and how they impacted the poems. Other than that, the structure was good!

Diversity: 10/10. The three poems submitted all cover vastly different topics, and the structures are pretty unique, too. Breathe and Hiraeth were somewhat similar, but the repetition of things like breathe, breathe, breathe! in... well... Breathe... made it unique and gave it its own flair/style. You have the uplifting message of Breathe, the sweet message of Hiraeth about love and home, and an existential crisis in let this be untitled. So, yeah, you got it all, that's for sure. Overall, the diversity present throughout the three poems submitted was fantastic, and every poem felt unique with interesting structural choices.

Themes and emotions: 14/20. The themes and emotions present throughout the poems were fantastic and did a good job elevating the reader to new emotional heights. Breathe provides a solid motivational message that I think will inspire others, and the other poems do a good job capturing the reader's heart, too, though I'd say Hiraeth is probably my favorite. I love the sweet message of Hiraeth and how you're able to capture the warm, fuzzy feeling with interesting imagery and clever word choice. Let this be untitled is the deepest one of the bunch, where it uses the most complex language and has the most to say, so I think you definitely submitted the right poems to be judged since you gave me a diverse range of poems where not a single one is the same and all of them have something different to say. I really liked the diversity of the themes and how you covered a variety of topics in different ways. Awesome job!

The only deductions come from a couple of things that I'll explain throughout the review, like the awkward moments I mentioned but will explain more in the next section, and also how I feel some poems could be expanded upon to give them extra emphasis and emotion, though that's again something I'll explain more of later. Overall, though, the themes and emotions present throughout the poems were strong!

Word choice: 10/15. As I mentioned in the previous section, I think the word choice in Hiraeth is pretty solid and does a good job portraying that warm, fuzzy feeling. I love the emphasis of smiling in that poem and how warm emotions are associated with it. The last line does a great job letting the reader into your thoughts on a personal level. I also like the words chosen to emphasize in Breathe, with the variations between breathe, realize, live, stand, etc. I think all the words chosen for that part of the poem were impactful and the right ones to use.

When it comes to critiques, there could be some smoothening done to the structure and spelling, and there are also some awkward moments. For example, pairing "boldness" with "fondness" in let this be untitled was a bit awkward to me, and it could be worth considering playing around with that moment a bit since I did find it a bit awkward, though maybe that's just me. Looking more objectively, there were some grammar errors that could break a reader's immersion, such as "what's it worth" (also from let this be untitled). Consider: "What it's worth." A couple more: "I find its the beginning of my downfall" instead of "I find it's the beginning of my downfall." "A lightning struck" instead of "Lightning struck" (the "a" is unnecessary). There are some other its and it's errors present throughout the poems as well. From Hiraeth: "There's in a way that you see things and smile." The "There's in a way" is a bit awkward and could be rephrased to something like "There's something in the way that you see things and smile," which is a tad longer but a little more fluid. So, overall, the word choice effectively conveys the meaning and gives the poems more weight, it could just use some tweaks to the presentation to make it more fluid. I hope that makes sense!

Figurative language: 12/15. The figurative language present throughout the work is overall solid. For example, I liked how, in let this be untitled, you compared the "you's" smile to an angel's grace (at the end). It was an interesting note to end on that was emotionally interesting to see. Another thing is I liked the imagery present in Hiraeth, and it's not necessarily what you think of when you picture "imagery." You're not painting a physical location but rather a feeling, and you're using comforting word choice to bring that image to life in our minds. It's like I can feel the images of those comforting smiles, and that's because you use the right words and feelings to bring those images to life. Great job!

The only deductions come from what I mentioned before about considering smoothing out some of these sentences to help them flow better, and there could also be some more figurative language present throughout. Like the angel's grace was a powerful moment, and it could have been cool to see some more of that sprinkled throughout let this be untitled. I feel that poem could have been fleshed out more in that sense. For example, you say unmovable like a rock. Is there anything else you can use there (since the rock description is a bit cliche)? So that's what I mean when I say consider fleshing out these ideas more through figurative language, if that makes sense. But, overall, this section still deserves a high score since I think the figurative language here was used effectively.

Clarity: 7/10. All three of the poems submitted have very clear messages that are easy to understand, and poems like let this be untitled have a lot of layers to them that give you time to sit and really think on them. You did a great job striking a balance between the simple and the complex, mixing pretty vocab with the clear sentences that give readers an understanding of what's going on. It also helps that you have a clear direction in terms of story flow, with the endings being primarily great with strong starts, too. Great job!

The only deductions come from what I mentioned in the word choice section where there were some grammar errors and awkward moments that could be tweaked to help with fluidity. But since I already explained that, I won't talk your ear off about it again other than to mention it so you know clearly where the deductions came from. Overall, the poems are clear with interesting messages!

Conclusion: 8.5/10. The conclusions in the three poems submitted were solid. Hiraeth and let this be untitled in particular had fantastic endings. The last line of let this be untitled is super meaningful and impactful, and I sprinted to my notes to say "The ending of let this be untitled is good." No expansion, no deep analysis, just me giggling and saying "Yeah, it's good," which I honestly think says a lot more than any analysis ever could. Hiraeth is probably my favorite, as I'm sure I've mentioned throughout the review (I write out of order so who knows if future Raven will remember to mention it or not), and the ending of that poem was great! I loved the last line and thought it did a fantastic job wrapping up the warmth present throughout the cute poem.

The only minor thing is Breathe and how I felt it could have been expanded upon, and I also wasn't a huge fan of the choice to make YOU in all caps like that. I feel it almost could be more impactful to leave it as is or give it italics. I can see the vision with why you made it all caps, though for me personally, I wasn't a huge fan, though that could be just a me thing and everyone else loves it, who knows. Either way, it's a very minor thing that doesn't matter too too much, especially when Hiraeth and let this be untitled have fantastic endings. So, all in all, you did a great job with the conclusions!

Title/blurb/cover: 10/10. The title is Journey to the Depth of my Soul, which I think is interesting, though, to be honest, I'm sure if I journeyed to the depth of your soul literally, I would see sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns. But that aside, I think the title works for the compilation, so I have no critiques for it!

The blurb is really good. It shows the reader what they're getting in to without overstaying its welcome or trying to do too much. You give a cinematic, poetic opening, and then you split off and give the reader the needed information so they know what they're going to read. It's a great balance where you have the pretty, poetic language, but also the solid details so readers aren't left confused. Overall, great job with the blurb!

The cover is absolutely fantastic. It's a beautiful, flowery, creative cover that has beautiful font and clear visual hierarchy. Everything feels clear and interesting to see, and I think it's very pleasing on the eyes. The background image is super cool, and I love the font used for your name. It kinda looks like paint splatter in font form. Does that make sense? Well, to me it does, and I think it looks awesome. No critiques, landing you a 10/10, which is very rare in my awards. In fact, only two other people in this category scored a 10, which goes to show how rare it is! Awesome job!

Total: 79.5/100

The Ballads Of The Wordsmith For His Poet by iwasapoet

Review:

Poems judged: Decades of Contrast, Serenade of The Quill Pen, Elegy of The Wordsmith

Structure: 8.5/10. The poetic structures present throughout the three poems are solid and work well to display the themes present in the poems. I like how you center-align your work for Serenade and Elegy, making them feel almost like... well, a serenade and an elegy, haha, but then Decades isn't, giving it a small bit of diversity there to make the three feel unique from one another in terms of how they're formatted. I also like how you play around with punctuation with things like em dashes to make the individual lines in the poems feel more intriguing and fresh.

The only minor deductions come from just some minor awkward moments that disrupt the flow here and there, though this is something that I'll bring up later in the review and explain with examples and suggestions. I'm bringing it up here to explain where the deductions came from, though I'll let future me explain them in more detail as I already wrote an explanation before writing this section of the review (I write my reviews out of order). Overall, the structures of the poems were good!

Diversity: 10/10. The diversity within the poems is a 10/10. Every poem feels unique and fresh, giving the readers a new experience every time they press continue to the next part. You never know what to expect next, leading to you keeping the readers on their toes. I personally never knew what to expect, and I mean that in the best way possible. I also liked the titles of each poem, and every one had my curiosity piqued to see what you would do next. The structures of each poem were pretty diverse, too, like I mentioned in the previous section. So everything feels unique, and I hope more people will pick this compilation up. No critiques for the diversity here!

Themes and emotions: 15/20. This may be a strange thing to point out, but the entire concept of Decades was really good. It stood out to me how you were using time as a way to make comparisons and present your theme, and you used time through... well, the decades! I thought that was an interesting decision and made for an engaging read, where I'm left wondering about what decades have to do with the poem, and the answer reveals itself the more I read, which makes me want to keep going! AKA: it keeps me hooked. I also really liked the concept of the muse in Serenade. All of the concepts were cool, really. Every theme was different than the last and kept me on my toes, never knowing what to expect next. All in all, great job, and I think this section deserves a high score.

The only deductions come from what I mentioned in the structure section about how there were some awkward moments and errors that could be tweaked to help keep the reader immersed. I'll explain a lot more with examples in the next section, though I'm bringing it up here so you know where the deductions come from and you're not left wondering why. So I'll explain in the next section, though since it impacts the themes/emotions, I still wanted to mention it here. Overall, the themes and emotions are strong and work for the compilation.

Word choice: 10/15. The word choice present throughout the poems is overall pretty good, with there being many highlight moments throughout all three. For example, in Serenade, I liked the second half of the opening line, with the poet whose soul was encaged, I thought that was a neat phrase to use there. I liked "Love wasn't distributed equally" from Decades, and like I mentioned before, I enjoyed the overall concept of Decades and how it flowed together. Elegy had strong word choice throughout the whole thing and overall feels like the most polished, interesting poem of the three, making for an engaging read and one I thoroughly enjoyed. The opening and ending lines were my two favorites in the entire series I read, so great job with the word choice here!

When it comes to critiques, I only have a couple where there were times there were awkward moments or words that I didn't feel were needed for the sentence and could be taken out to help strengthen the flow.

"Just like their love-
But they just needed a break." (Decades).

I'm not a huge fan of the just repeating there since it feels a little awkward. I do like the repetition of the word "just" throughout the poem, it was just (pun intended) that one moment where it felt a little awkward, that's all. Another example of a little bit of awkward phrasing: "People that watched his life says" (Elegy). I would recommend: "People that watched his life say" for a bit stronger flow. Similarly, in Serenade, the first line is: "I was the the wind...". I believe that was a typo and the duplication of the "the" wasn't intentional. I hope everything I said makes sense!

As for words I didn't feel were needed, let's take a look at this example: "And never was beyond the surface" (Elegy). I don't think the "was" is needed there in context of the poem. Nothing to do with SPAG, just for flow wise, I feel it could roll off the tongue a bit smoother without it. If you read it once with the "was" and then without it, it may show what I mean a bit more. Same with: "Town's folks treat him like he practices Witchcraft and he ascended from hell" (Elegy). I think the second "he" isn't needed and could flow better without it. Same as the last example, if you read it once with it and then without it, it may make it more clear what I mean when I say it could flow a bit stronger without the extra word. It's still grammatically correct, just trimmed to focus on the essential words. I hope that makes sense, too!

Figurative language: 13/15. "The jail cell of his being," from Serenade. "Sirens were bathing," from Serenade. The entirety of Decades acting as symbolism. Same with Elegy: the symbolism and ending that will take the reader off guard. Everything I just mentioned there were amazing pieces of language that made for an engaging read. My favorite is how you used so much symbolism to bring your themes to life, and my personal favorite line is probably the "jail cell of his being" line from Serenade due to how it works within the context of the poem and also how powerful it is on its own. These individual pieces come together to form powerful figurative language throughout the poems, giving them their own artistic flair that also adds to the diversity I mentioned before. Overall, you did a great job bringing your pieces to life with powerful language, symbolism, and metaphors.

The only critiques I have are an accumulation of everything I've said thus far. There could be some tweaks to the spelling, punctuation, and grammar (SPAG) to help with how the figurative language and overall word choice are read, but other than that, I think the figurative language throughout the piece was good.

Clarity: 7/10. The overall clarity of the poems is good, where we can understand the poems' meanings relatively easily, but there are still layers added to make it so the reader has to peel them apart to see the true themes and emotions waiting inside. I think that makes for a good balance where readers can pick up on what you're saying but also are given a chance to think deeper. Poetry tends to inspire deeper thinking, after all. So when it comes to the creative side of the poems, I think you did a good job showing them that clearly and giving the readers a lot to think about.

The only critiques I have are what I mentioned before about considering tweaking the flow a bit to help the poems remain as clear as possible. An example is something like this: "Every syllables that escaped their mouths." I would recommend "Every syllable" for clearer flow (from the Decades poem). So the clarity could be improved with some tweaks to the grammar and the awkward lines here and there, but when it comes to the meanings of the poems themselves, they were good and clear!

Conclusion: 8/10. I like the endings of Decades and Elegy in particular, but I'd say Elegy was my overall favorite ending and poem due to its intense messaging and awesome ending that was really powerful with just a handful of words. I think you did a great job wrapping up Elegy with that last line, and overall, you did a good job wrapping it up in that final stanza. Everything feels like it flows from the start to the end well, making for great conclusions that feel earned and like they belong where they are instead of elsewhere.

The only critique I have is that Serenade's ending didn't hit me as much as the other two did. It feels like it still has more to say, and that the ending is more meant to be a middle transition to something else than a final line. It doesn't feel like it wraps up the message within that poem and needs a little more space to do so. It's a nicely-written final line with interesting meaning, it just feels more like a middle line transitioning to something, if that makes sense; however, with Elegy and Decades having such strong endings, I don't think it's fair to take off many points for that, and I still want to give a high score because your endings are overall solid!

Title/blurb/cover: 7/10. The Ballads Of The Wordsmith For His Poet is an interesting title that definitely garners attention. I personally love the word "Ballads." Maybe it's just because I'm a Joji fan, and that's his iconic album that got most people into his music, though I've always loved the word, so I'm biased when I say I like its usage here. But bias aside, I think it's a creative title!

When it comes to critiques, for me personally, I wasn't a huge fan of the "For His Poet" being there since it started to make the title feel a little too long, and it feels complete with just "The Ballads Of The Wordsmith," though that's just my personal take on it and others might have varying opinions. I try to remain as objective as possible when I review, though it is, at the end of the day, still a review, and I want to give all my thoughts fairly, and my thoughts here are that I think it's an overall good title, it could just potentially benefit from being trimmed a bit. I do understand why you put the "For His Poet" there, considering the context of the poems, though personally it still did feel a little long to me. Again, could just be a me thing and everyone else loves it, though I think it's worth mentioning. I hope that makes sense!

I can appreciate the concept of the blurb and how you're going for a poetic, cinematic blurb that makes the reader think "Oh, okay, we're really getting into it!" So I appreciate that concept. I thought it was maybe a little too flowery and could have benefitted from being a bit more to-the-point about what the compilation will include since you'll have plenty of time to employ vivid imagery and figurative language throughout the poems themselves, so it could be beneficial to be more to-the-point in the blurb. That being said, the SPAG is great, and I do overall like the concept, so I still think the blurb deserves praise for that! I would just, overall, recommend a bit more specifics to let the reader know what they're about to read.

The cover is the final thing to judge both in this category and in this review. The cover has a beautiful image that's also crystal clear... wow, I can see it super clearly. That's rare on Wattpad, seeing as Wattpad tends to blur covers naturally, so great job with that! The only thing I would say is there's no title card on the cover, which makes it feel less like a cover and more like just an image, if that makes sense, so I would recommend adding a title to it so we know what we're clicking on. But I still like the image and think you chose it well! And please do tell me your secrets for how you got it so clear on a site like WATTPAD, where everything blurs...

Total: 78.5/100

~End~

If you made it this far (or scrolled to the end to see if I said anything down here), thank you!

I don't have anything to say about our angel Park Jimin this time, but just know that I'm always thinking about him ;)

Merry Christmas, and I'll see you real soon for the short stories results! All the stories have been read and scored, I'm just making the reviews and hoping to have them out ASAP.

I'm also going to start Normal?, though I won't officially close the category until the 48 hour mark I mentioned in the opening note.

Thanks for reading!

~ Raven