Reviewer: chaotic_naturx

BEFORE READING

Alright, so...I absolutely love your cover and title. It hints at both the dark and light sides of things and I really love the contrast that the title brings. I also like how you have arms with bloody scars (at least that's what I think it is?). It helps the title seem more realistic! And, the subtitle also helps with setting the tone! I am very excited about this book!!

The blurb is an amazing blurb for a poetry compilation. But, I do think that you should maybe write a little bit about what kind of poetry you write, what genre of poetry. Something like that! Now, on to the reading!!

WHILE READING

|Scars Kissed Away|

You don't really need the vertical bars on each side of your chapter title, but I understand if you want it to be unique and aesthetic!

So, for the first part, did you mean for all the words to be lowercase? If so, you need to make "My" lowercase also. Consistency is key when it comes to poetry! Never forget that! Also, there needs to be periods after "night" and "begged" and commas after "help" and "said". Either that, or no punctuation at all, but that would be hard to read, so I don't recommend it.

Your epigraph is so intense! I LOVE IT!!! This is exactly what I expected when I saw your cover, title, and blurb. Some dark, intense poems never get old! And this particular one set the tone for the rest of your poems magically! But, you did have some grammar mistakes, mostly with punctuation. Some of the commas should actually be periods or semicolons or something that's not a comma. But, other than that, you did great! Plus, I love fire, so brownie points!

The dedication. YES!! It is truthful and depressing and poetic! Everything I expected from this story! I'm so excited to move on!

|A Fresh Wound|

My God! Your word usage is so elegant and profound! I love it! I also love how the whole first part is bolded! It's like you're telling the readers that the whole poem is important and should be recognized as that! Absolutely beautiful! I only noticed one grammar mistake in the first poem. There should be no semicolon after "more". It is not needed.

Wow. I am so impressed by your second part! So amazing! But, I do have to tell you that "i" should be capitalized. On to the next chapter!

|Tainted Soul|

First of all, I love how you have a short poem relating to a physical book and the pain of a soul in every chapter! It's so unique! And it really brings the poetry together! This is what makes an analogy masterful! Second of all, I know you're trying to have it where there's a comma at the end of every line, but you really don't need a comma after "You" and it should be maybe a period instead of a comma after "broken". Also, "that's" should have an apostrophe between t and s. Third of all, this was so powerful and relatable! I loved it so much!

Now, for the main poem, there are several instances where you had a comma and no space before the next word. I suggest you correct that right away! There are also some misplaced punctuation and missing punctuations, mostly with periods and commas. Other than that, this poem is just fascinating and I love it so much! Quite depressing with a tad of hopefulness! Just the way I like it...

|Aching Flesh|

For the poem, remember that consistency is key. If you're going to have some of the first letters of some lines capitalized, why not have all of them? Especially if it's all one sentence anyway! Also, the italicization of "your" isn't needed. And you don't need a comma after "own". This was so amazing!!!

Okay, there are lots of errors in the main poem. Firstly, there are times where I cannot understand what you're trying to say because the sentence is awkward because of a punctuation error, a word mishap, and more reasons. Also, some of the stanzas are awkward. Usually, when a sentence ends, the new sentence begins on the next line. That is not the case for some of your stanzas. Though the grammar was not up to par, the content of the poem is still magnificently perfect! Once again, I LOVE IT!!!

|Presence of Absence|

Wow! That was just amazing! That's exactly what everyone should grieve for! Instead, they grieve for menial things, which is just sad. This opening poem was so beautiful, but there are a few things that should probably be fixed. Lots of punctuation errors and maybe some ways to change how you worded it. I suggest going over it and editing it!

OMG!!! How are you so amazing at this???? This main poem was absolutely amazing! But, there are quite a few mistakes that need to be corrected, including punctuation errors, run-on sentences, sentence structure, word usage, etc. But, I, once again, absolutely LOVED this work of art!!

AFTER READING

I am extremely in love with your poems and writing style! I think I said that in so many words...hmm...maybe a thousand times(?) throughout this review!! Just...absolute and utter LOVE!!

But, there were some mistakes that need to be fixed that I mentioned in all the chapters. So, I recommend you read over these chapters (and probably the ones after them) and try to find and correct all the mistakes I brought to your attention! This way, your poems will be beautiful and grammatically correct, which is just what every reader wants from their writer! It will be a masterpiece!

You also might want to look into finding an editor, maybe at CLN's editing shop that can be found on our profile!

I plan on continuing on with these poems until this book reaches its last breath (the last chapter, excuse my dramatic self)!