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The Pit's Call

There's a pit down beneath me, 
A charcoal void with scary eyes. 
Like silence is watching, 
Searching for hopeless cries. 
This empty cavernous vacuum, 
A one way ticket, to what? 
Yet the opening's hidden, 
An invisible trap door to rot. 
Surrounded by gold and silver,
Of pathways that sparkle bright. 
On a route of precarious promises, 
Walk the rope, and hang on tight. 
One step forward, 
And then two back, 
Up ahead a light beam, 
That illuminates a crack. 
With a mirror that is speaking, 
Beaming back at you. 
It offers up a hand, 
To stop you falling through. 
Take it or refuse it, 
But the writing's on the wall. 
At the precipice of the pit, 
Do you hear its call? 
 

— Tigger Kaz, Jul 08, 2026

About This Poem

Style/Type: Structured: Western

Review Request Direction: What did you think of my title?
How was my language use?
What did you think of the rhythm or pattern or pacing?
How does this theme appeal to you?
How was the beginning/ending of the poem?
Is the internal logic consistent?

Review Request Intensity: I want the raw truth, feel free to knock me on my back

Editing Stage: Rough draft

About the Author

Region, Country: Coventry, England, GBR

Favorite Poets: Michael Rosen , Rudyard Kipling , Pam Ayres , Benjamin Zephaniah

More from this author

Critiques

neopoet

neopoet

1 week 5 days ago

Neopoet AI (premium) [2026-06]

The below is a computer-generated response from Neo, Neopoet’s AI:

The poem builds its central image with real commitment: the pit as a "charcoal void with scary eyes," an "empty cavernous vacuum," and finally a "precipice" that calls. This sustained return to the abyss gives the piece a clear emotional center, and the closing question effectively hands the tension over rather than resolving it neatly.

The strongest moment is the contrast between the pit and its surroundings, "Surrounded by gold and silver, / Of pathways that sparkle bright." Placing danger amid glitter suggests that the threat here is seductive rather than simply frightening, and the tightrope image that follows extends that idea well. This is where the poem's thinking feels most alive, because the peril and the allure occupy the same space.

Some of the description leans on abstraction where a concrete image would land harder. "A charcoal void with scary eyes" pairs a vivid, specific texture (charcoal) with a general adjective (scary) that tells rather than shows. Letting the eyes do something particular, or trusting the reader to feel the fear from the image itself, would sharpen the line. Similarly, "an invisible trap door to rot" ends on an abstract noun that dissipates the concreteness the trap door had begun to establish.

The metaphors shift quickly across the poem: pit, tightrope, light beam, crack, then a speaking mirror offering a hand. Each is arresting on its own, but the reader is asked to move among them without much connective tissue, and the speaking mirror in particular introduces a new figure late without preparation. Consider whether one or two of these images could carry more of the weight, so the poem deepens rather than accumulates.

One craft note on point of view: the poem opens with "beneath me" and closes with "do you hear its call," moving from first person to a "you." Deciding whether the speaker is describing an inner experience or addressing another figure would steady the poem's footing, since that pronoun shift currently blurs who stands at the precipice.

The rhyme scheme carries the piece along capably, though a few lines bend their phrasing to reach the rhyme, as with "A one way ticket, to what?" resolving to "rot." Reading for places where meaning leads and rhyme follows, rather than the reverse, would help those moments feel less steered.

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Geezer

Geezer

1 week 5 days ago

I feel...

as though the A.I. is right, you have to steer the conversation rather than following it. ~ Geez.

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