[Certain]

I don't usually tack on a preamble to a vote, but I'll make an exception here. If writing precision were a spectrum and all of this site's elite topical writers were placed on it, you two would be at opposite ends. Three-Planes-Aligned comes with verses that can barely breathe because of how tightly wound they are, with every word so carefully chosen. Frank keeps things loose and congenial to the point that sometimes it can be maddening. To a degree, both of your styles hold you back slightly some weeks, as they did here. Three-Planes-Aligned's density can come at the expense of readability, while Frank's laconic stylings leave open plenty of room for editing and make for a lot of wasted space. Yet when you guys are on your game, you're amazing because your styles are so defined. As soneone without that clearly delineated singular voice, I envy that and enjoy both of you, even on your "off" days. This battle represented neither your best nor your work work. But enough of the generalities.

Three-Planes-Aligned: There were a lot of amazing lines and phrases in this verse. To start with, "the haystacks he passes are mostly syringes - hosting "King of the Hill" for emotionless children" stood out as one of the best things I've read on this site, period. The rhyming was loaded for the most part, though there were two or three slips that might have been intentional break points. But the content had me confused at times. It seemed like you were going deeper than the deadness of a drug addict in power, but the references made it really hard to piece together every individual piece. I've read this verse at least five times now, and while I enjoy it every time, I can't say I've had that "ah-ha" moment that a poignant abstract verse sometimes provides. The ending particularly confused me. I'm not a big fan of a verse that exists solely as a character sketch, but here that's all I could take from this as I didn't fully grasp the story line, if there really was one.

Frank: This verse reminded me of the Family Guy episode in which Peter finds his real dad, to the point that I'd have a hard time imagining you didn't have that in mind while writing it. But the inspiration did not lead to duplication. Instead you created a very cool, festive atmosphere and a story line that, while again rooted in that Family Guy episode, was also your own. There was real humor in some of your portrayals of the drunks, but mostly I was transfixed by the rhyming. Sure, you chose an easy sound, but you then bent everything into it in unexpected and nuanced ways. That's your normal, but here there were only a few particularly forced uses ("cupeth" was pretty bad, particularly so early in the verse). But my big qualm was that you were pretty liberal with the topic use. You managed to incorporate the barrel and political power to a degree, so I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt of adhering, though not as clearly as Three-Planes-Aligned did. But what ultimately gets you the win here is that I felt I had a clear connection and bounced along with your verse. It was more accessible while still being complex. Had Three-Planes-Aligned let us in a little bit more, I think he would have gotten this victory.

Vote: Frank