[oats]

This was a great battle, def worthy of our final championship match.

Zygote: not surprisingly, this ranks among my favorite pieces of yours this season. The comparison of indentured servitude to modern debt, while not a new comparison by any means, was well executed. That this verse came from that picture only enhanced it; the comparison of trying to dig yourself out of a hole worked brilliantly. The final synthesis of feudalism and capitalism creating similar social problems, and the only solution being a Marxist repossession of the economy, was an excellent conclusion. Marx himself would nod to that homage. I think you clearly and effectively conveyed what Marx considered the inherent contradiction of capitalism, that eventually the outright economic freedom inevitably leads to exploitation.

Certain: interesting that you took a similar approach here, deriding the ills of capitalism. I like how you gave a name to the boy and made him into a human story we all have some sort of touchstone with. This being improved upon by your own personal anecdotes of student loans and frequent moving, again hitting on notes that are more emotionally resonant. This contrasted your verse well with zyg's, since his approach was far more cerebral and impersonal. The final line was powerful, giving your verse a definitive impression to leave the reader with. Another great verse.

Vote: this is close, as both of you made very different appeals to a similar theme. I liked certain's rhyming and actual writing more, with a more poetic and personal touch compared to the essay format of zygote. But my ultimate decision-making metric here is who executed their piece better. I think it was zygote. I feel like there were no gaps between what he was trying to accomplish and what he actually did accomplish when he hit submit, whereas certain's verse had greater overall potential with the comparison of Marco and his own struggles, but I think much of that potential went neglected in the final product, almost feeling like two distinct verses tied together at the end. Good shit to both, really enjoyed reading this match.