[Certain]

NYCSPITZ: This topic leant itself to metaphoric interpretations of aspects of the image, so I liked that in the end you spun it into a literal interpretation of the image. That was a good expectation inversion, particularly after so much of your verse seemed to be leading me in the other direction. Surprising readers is part of the challenge, to me, doing something different than is expected both of you (in context) and of any writer. You pulled back a bit on rhymes (where there actually were a few issues) and obscure allusions here. The result was an approachable yet complex verse, though the scope broadened so much at the end. I'm three reads in and still unsure how I feel about ending it that way. The first half of the verse, before the tiger and Adam began their journey together, was really captivating. "It's all the tiger needs -" was a perfect turn of phrase, well-placed. The whole mystic adventure thing clashed with my non-fantasy-inclined tastes, but you executed it very well. Your phrasing was clean and unsaturated, as you sometimes have a tendency to be showy but here went more direct. And you sort of set up this adventure that doesn't happen in the verse. I really like open endings, and I really liked the very end of this verse for that reason along with coalescing the tough topic into a singular image within the context of the story. This is one of the better verses I've read by you, perhaps because you allowed yourself a little room to breathe.

dead man: It's so nice to see you back to topical battling because it focuses you in a way that your Open Mic verses often need. This verse was gripping as hell. There were so many little turns of phrase, but I'll start with the opener. As a comfortably numb person for the most part, that idea of "i want to feel anxiety. terror and paranoia" really connected with me. This whole verse did. You took the topic on this seeking a thrill without actually seeking it angle, and the result was something imminently readable and connective. It also was distinctly your own. I just did a site search for your posts with the word "cliffside," and it's been featured in six of your verses since the one bearing that as its title. Your self-referencing sometimes seems a bit kitschy, but here I didn't notice it until the third read. The dead man distinctiveness did make your take on the topic a bit too obvious and perhaps not tightly correlated enough. If you had built in a more childlike point of view, I might have seen it. But you essentially took toward the idea of adventure through graffiti as your concentration, and that didn't encompass the entire topic the way NYCSPITZ did. That's a negative, sure, but it's also an interesting balancing point. If NYCSPITZ held a major edge on macro-creativity, your phrasing jumped out as much more unique and enjoyable and made the verse as a whole more enjoyable. That's making this battle so tough to vote on. Ultimately, ambition wins out in a great battle, one of the best I've seen on this site.

Vote: NYCSPITZ