[dead man]

i think STRATEGY is the buzzword this week in AOWL - competitors are taking the roads less traveled and truly thinking outside the boxes of convention and it is really working in their favor.

i happened to be online when zygote dropped this earlier in the week, and i was just as impressed reading it then as i am now, perhaps moreso now after re-reading and catching a couple spots i had skipped over earlier. i mean - again, from a purely STRATEGIC standpoint, it's hard to follow that. it immediately puts pressure on the opposition not only to invent something unique from anything mentioned in the prior verse, but make it interesting enough to literally make the first writer eat their words. although, zygote has his bases covered here - spinning his verse as not something meant to overwhelm or stump zenland, but merely inspire him to write something dope. i think this, either intentionally or not, was something remarkably clever on zygote's part. it sort of paints a good-guy protagonist aura around his character here, which sounds ridiculous, but remains true.. the verse itself was mechanically sound, light-hearted, creative, and fun to read. it touched on a number of concepts that could truly be expounded into topicals i would be inclined to read and your ability to list them off in such a way especially in such a short period of time was something to witness imo. shit man, idk, but you're kind of crazy with it imo. someone next to untouched in certain capacities. this is exactly why.

zenland - you did succeed in creating something completely separate from what zygote alluded to. da vinci as a man, embodied by his own demons. the accused sexual deviant, charged with sodomy, stricken by intense genius but a victim of his own pathologies that might or might not have been responsible for his brilliance in the first place. idk, I'm not up on Davinci as some may be but i got a very clear picture of a slice of his perspective from your verse. this corresponded with your picture on a literal level because of the nature of the body-art, but also because of the metaphorical significance of a mind locked out of itself by its own hand, its own key.. it was well done, clever as a general idea. your writing let you down in a few places.. you had some issues with wording and rhythm in which i found myself tracing back to make sure i was reading correctly.

But never found, these memories may never be forgot,
Condemned to celibacy he taught himself any pleasure around, heavenly it is not,

idk man, this felt really sloppy to me. like you had something to say, but did not have the words to express it.. i understood your statement but it did not connect.

for these reasons, and because zygote had the superior strategy which imo fully outmatched zenland's contribution, which was stellar in itself but contained a few distinct chinks in his armor.. i have to say

v/ ZYGOTE