The title is simplistic, and although it does fit the poem, I wonder if the emotions within the poem call for something a little more descriptive.

I thought there were some pleasant word combinations in your poem. I particularly liked jumps in the sky, catches the stars, tarnished flowers, and eyes having rain water

I think the teaser says it best when it describes this poem as being a conduit for the author's own inner peace. As with the word choices I liked in the section above, I do feel there's some imagery in the poem, even though some of them are highly abstract.

I feel like the meter and flow was lost in this poem. I recognize that it's a free-verse, but there wasn't any hint as to how the reader could grasp reading this internally or even just out-loud. How do you feel reading it out loud? Does it feel perhaps more like abstract prose, maybe?

I think part of the reason this poem was difficult to read is because it was written entirely in capital letters. Although you did place punctuation at the end of the lines, I felt as though you only put commas there to make it uniform and not because they were actually needed. I think if you were to write this with proper capitalization, or even just capitalize the first letter in each stanza, it would be much easier to read.

I've also found with poetry (capital letters aside) that end-line punctuation is not always a must. With the way you fragment the lines, words, and phrases, I think your poem might actually do more justice without any end-line punctuation.

My favorite part was the second stanza. I like the imagery, and the abstract nature of it.

I rated this a 2.5 because I think you need to revisit this item and check the technicalities of the writing. I believe you have strong abstract imagery and feel within this poem, but the presentation of it needs a lot of work. This is not a personal attack by any means, it's just difficult to read in the form that it is right now. If you ever decide to rework this poem or change it in any way, I'd be happy to come back and take another look at it. I definitely see where this poem is going, and I really hope that you continue on with it.

The title of this short story may be from a phrase that's familiar, but it's fitting given the piece. It also sparked my curiosity as to what the story was about, since it could be used in many situations. The use of Gothic and Horror/Scary are also good choices.

I thought that including Judges 11:32 in the beginning was fitting. I also think that there was some amazing imagery included in the beginning: singular volcanic peak arising from the sea defines the waves was my favorite, although homespun miasma and scar seared were also great uses.

Your sentence variations seem to be pretty good. Most of them are in the ballpark for average length, and for those that are on the shorter side I think the emphases was done well.

Some first names and pronouns I came across skimming it over again: they, she, Poppa, I, Momma, Mitzi, Aaron, Timmie, her, he, we, Jeff. I think you did a great job alternating the pronouns so that no single name was overly used.

I didn't notice any clichés that really stuck out, and I think the meat of your words are varied well. I did spot on area where I think the sentence sounds strong without the repetition of 'was there'.
My older brother Jeff[,] was there too, reading the sports pages. ~ Since you already said that 'Pappa was there' and you're adding Jeff into the mix, I think it goes without saying that he was there. It cuts down on 'was there' being back to back, and helps the readability a bit since they're not parallel statements.

I felt as though through dialog your characters really came to life. I was able to get a feel for who they were simply by the way they reacted to each other and their speech mannerism. Momma insisted on respect, Aaron was perhaps a bit of a rebel through the taunting jeer of being a Momma's boy, etc. I also adored the description of Mitzi with her corkscrew curls, and was haunted by the descriptions in the end.