Young Writers Society

Hello Zenith, I hope this finds you well.

First and foremost, thank you for giving me a poem to discover your character.

"What do you dream of when the show's over?
When the curtain falls down,
What is the last thing you remember?
The blinding lights of the dying echoes of a full house;
As you slowly climb down into the darkness of the night."

Interpretations, shall I say, are fickle creatures. Construed of numerous meanings and hopes, lessons, and admitted faults, one is always kept on their toes as they wait anxiously for any response. The same goes for the exhilarating high a performer gets from the raucous cheers of the crowd, and the beauty that is seen in the shimmer of their skin. But from there, where does one go? The outside world doesn't blast them with the same affection, and the sun makes them darker but not brighter. The itch, the craving, the overwhelming need to feel anything close to the addiction that ails them is nothing but maddening. From being the sun that Icarus dared to want to touch, to climbing down the stairs when the sun finally sets, shows that everything must come to an end.

"The star who stole the spotlight,
Or the quiet artist who weaved their imagination into art;
Who would you rather be at the end of the day?"

To be seen, or not to be seen? A rendition of Hamlet that is best suited for this poem, one must always wonder what they would choose. The spotlight is warm in the distance, but she bites when touched. The quiet is peaceful for a time, but the silence is always screaming.

"If I were to meet you once the act was over,
Would you be the same as before the curtains rose?
Or perhaps the moment lives forever in you now."

One could be as volatile as a storm, or as soft as a peach, but everything changes when you're consumed by curtains. Could you honestly say that the "you" on stage is the "you" when you left?

"You are never to be the same again."

As I was reading your previous reviews, I happen to agree with some of them. This line loses the "umph" to your imagery. I fully understand the meaning, so let us dive into some options that maybe you could revise this on.

"You shall never be the same again."
"You are never going to be the same again."
"You can never be the same again."

Of course, I will never tell you that you absolutely must change it to however I say, but instead, I listed these as an opportunity for you to reach inside and build a new ending. Play with the words, feel inside for the rhythm that was beating for you in this moment of art.

This was a pleasure to dissect, and as always;

Keep creating beautiful art, and dance in the rain when things seem hard.

Hey there Zenith. I don't think I've ever reviewed any of your works before so let's just dive right into this.

The first thing that stands out to me in this poem is the questions that the narrator is asking. As a reader, this brings out several questions for me about their inclusion. Is the narrator asking these questions of themselves, of the reader, or of someone else who may never see the work? When people use questions with "you" statements, it always leaves me thinking about who the 'you' is supposed to be.

You are never to be the same again.

This is a pretty short poem, so this review will probably be on the short side too. I genuinely love this poem, in part because of how beautifully its written, but also because I can relate to it a lot. (I'm involved in the theater program at school, and every show there's there euphoria and rush during/before the show, but afterwards I have this big crash and depression.)

Ok, now more to your actual writing. I think you do a great job of expressing how significant the show is to the subject of the poem and just how tragic their fall from the light is. Your opening stanza does an incredible job of setting up this theme. I especially love the two lines "The blinding lights or the dying echoes of a full house; As you slowly climb down into the darkness of the night." They create really vivid imagery of the show ending. I think your second stanza does a beautiful job of showing the contrast between the impermanence of performance arts and the physical, lasting rewards of visual arts. The star can only stay in the spotlight for so long before the show ends and their audience abandons them. (At least that's my interpretation.) The third stanza is also lovely and very philosophical in questioning how the star changes after the show ends. I really like the line "Or perhaps the moment lives forever in you now." It's really beautiful in how it expresses a hope that the show might last forever through the people who created it. Your concluding line "You are never to be the same again" is very impactful. Again, as someone with theater experience, I can say I definitely agree that every show changes people a little bit (usually positive as we can all grow from the experience!).

Overall, I thought this was a beautifully crafted poem, and it has a lot of personal significance for me. Great job ^-^ and hopefully I'll see more of your work in the future!

I liked reading it this poem.I think it’s about who you’ll be when it’s your chance to go out in the world.It’s about how you will act in the world and who you’ll flesh out to be at the end of the day.It all comes down to you.I hope that you have a lovely and very wonderful day and night.