[Certain]

breathless: You take very direct paths on topics, which definitely can detract from your verses in a league like this, with so many creative writers. But in this case, I thought you executed better than you have any other week. Your lyricism was sharp, with a wide variety of rhyme schemes held up by a consistent cadence. The content was plain, but you mixed in quite a few really nice turns of phrase, such as "An over the top underachiever" and "Kept my head held high, fingers crossed at the same time." There wasn't anything remarkable about those lines or this verse, but the simple, effective tone made for a relatable verse that was carried by the rhymes.

Mike Wrecka: I really think this idea had great potential. I'm thinking some people might not like the ketchup twist, but I did. It was very real and had the potential for comedy. Unfortunately, I don't think you fully delivered on the sentimentality or the comedy of it. By keeping the twist a secret for most of the verse (which can and has worked on other topics, for you and others), you wee forced to keep the early part very generic. I think it would be very cool to read an entire verse developing the narrator's relationship with these jeans through specific moments, culminating in the throwing away, like if you had begun with the ketchup spill reveal and then flashed back to better times with those jeans. Unfortunatley, the writing (including an on-and-off rhyme scheme that included some single-syllable rhymes) did not match the creativity of the topic and left me feeling a bit flat.

Vote: breathless