I love this. Out of the collection, this is by far my favorite. The imagery is superb. My absolute favorite part is:

"now, clutching hands and hips and hearts,
she and I, we spin ourselves dizzy
in some neon corner of the urban cosmos.

and in her radiant curls and flaming hands,
I have found a blazing reality
more beautiful than your ephemeral illusion."

I feel like I'm there, basking in the glow of your euphoria. I am really, truly happy for you.

Here's a review for you, and I hope you respond to it sooner rather than later. One of the first things I wondered was how long you took to write this (from start to finish, not just thinking about it) because it's so damn amazing.

i. In the first two lines, I like "Of prisms, not prisons", which seems to me to relate back to your previous poem. Very clever. I also love the imagery of "the electric kaleidoscope of december's northern lights…"

ii. I love everything about this from "face of a madonna" onward. The first line and a half doesn't stand out to me as marvelously as the others do, but the rest more than make up for it. (By the way, it doesn't mean it's bad, it's just not as marvelous as the rest.) I especially like, "but lips, apple-sweet and wicked like Eve's" -- god is that brilliant. Absolutely lovely.

i. " now, clutching hands and hips and hearts,
she and I, we spin ourselves dizzy" is pretty close to magnificence in the picture that it paints. The "She and I" really stand out, which is good. I like it a lot (and not only because I'm biased - but because it makes the point clear). "radiant curls and flaming hands" gives an image/feeling that I know all too well.

iv. It reminds me of something you'd read in a book, or see in a movie, but better…it's so painfully gorgeous and realistic.

This poem is beautiful. It sounds almost like a song, too poetic to find words to describe. It hits home, describes something that most people know all too well, but with a twist. I love how it signifies beginnings and ends, starting over and self-acceptance. Looking back on the previous poems, it's obvious that you've grown not only as a writer and poet, but as yourself as well, especially considering the agony some of these put you through. Congratulations on finally finishing Twelve, and for the rest. You did well, very well.

Good luck.
--~Bee.

This is really nice, I like this alot!!
cant wait to see the last one! I like all of them! Keep writing!

I love the way you use words. It's so different and beautiful.

the fourth stanza, if you will, is lovely. just lovely.

The enchanted one awakening "unkissed" is a beautiful, surreal image.

Oh, wow. I don't even know what to say to this, it's so amazing. I keep reading this over and over again and I still can't get past how wonderful this is.

I love the fairytale theme woven throughout, of course. This has to be one of my favourite pieces in the collection. The references to Sleeping Beauty all fit in really well, and you did a good job of showing that fairytale is NOT real life. My favourite lines were "she finally woke up, unkissed-" and "the enchantment of your body broken". For some reason, this reminds me of the song A Stone by Okkervil River. There's one slightly sad thing about this piece though..there's only one more left in the collection! =(

Yay, poem!!
Okay.

The first time I read this, it reminded me very much of TSFT for some reason...probably the castle walls/crumbling stones and overall theme of this just really reminded me of the realms. I doubt you intended that, but I like it.

i. "once upon a fall" I really like because it's so different. I mean, I expected when I started reading it "time" and it threw me off. and instead of "gold threads..." I would use "golden threads"...it just sounds better to me.
"of castle walls whose crumbling stones/still sung your name" is a marvelous image...it just fits so well.

ii. "her eyes wild as briars" = perfection in five words. I can picture this really, really well, Julia.
"a spindle in the darkness" seems slightly out of place though, with this. I don't know what I would do to fix it, but that line seems like it fits with the poem, but not the stanza.

i. "the enchantment of your body broken" -- god, I KNOW this.
I absolutely LOVE how triumphant and determined it is at the end. It ties it together so perfectly.

Favourite line would either be "the enchantment of your body broken" or "and she could live it without you."

I read all 10 chapters, and I must say, I really like this work. It's creative and extremely well written. A definite favorite.

i take back what i said in my previous review - may is now the favorite
"there's a mad woman with my green eyes" is so expressive.

and the end is perfect "like the scorched petals of poppies
spelling out your name."
this is just amazing

(Remind me again why do I always end up doing this at an obscene hour?!)

Well, you definitely don't sound like you are an aspiring drug addict, that's for sure.

"there's a mad woman with my green eyes" is a great image and, don't kill me for saying this, but reminds me of Plath's "Mad girl's love song." If that's what you were going for, it worked. If not, it worked brilliantly anyway.

the following three lines seem a lot like you're trying to get over this man. I love the images, particularly the one of you tossing ashes into the air. I can practically see you doing that.

I like the third stanza a lot, particularly "ink-stained pipe"

"curtain of fire" is a great image.

and as always, the ending is great. wonderful job. :)

it sounds like you've succeeded better than ever in your attempts to get over this guy...am I right?

Now I see what you mean... :)

It's true, though. Love IS an addiction. I particularly enjoyed the first stanza and the third stanza. The first because love is sometimes equated with madness (which I feel all to well sometimes), and the third because the pen (or keys as the case my be) is your tool of choice, baring your soul to faceless readers, expressing your addiction to the unnamed object of your affections.

Keep up the good work!

~L

october and march were my favorite

You.Owe.Me.
Big time.

This seems more emotional than your other poems. I think the first thing that gave me that impression was how you repeated sky. "into the asphalt sky,/a sky without stars save for street lamps," It threw me off, because you don't normally do that in the poems of yours that I have read, so that may be another reason.
I know when I'm feeling a particular emotion rather strongly, I tend to repeat words like that. Almost in a delirious way. You do it again in your Author's Note: "too late, too late,"

I like how you compare the night sky's colour to asphalt. I noticed you did something similar in Painted Midnight ("darkness strewn/like gasoline streams spilled across the sky"). It makes me think of the sky in a different way, with how you depict it.

The image of "fluorescent syringes puncturing/the fragile skin of night," is one that gives me chills. Seems slightly morbid, to me.

Does black velvet have some sort of significance that I'm missing? Or is it just the image of keeping warm? It's interesting, how you describe yourself hiding your secrets.

"luminous/with possibility." I love that.

The last three stanzas + a line had me confused so I had to read it aloud. I know what you're going after (or at least, I think I do) when you put a period after "yesterday", but maybe a comma would be better? and then another one after "skin"? It separates it more, and makes it easier to read.

But the last six lines still have to be my favourite, especially, "like coal ribbons/igniting my matchstick skin."

The last line ties it together perfectly. So much emotion in three little words. Amazing.

And I don't know about in your town, but I can see plenty of stars in Mountainside on most nights. Not as many as I could say, out west, but enough to keep me happy.