[Certain]

I'm running short on time here, so I'm just going to explain why I am voting the way I am. I didn't like either verse. Both of you stretched your lines, both in length and in content, to the point that this was kind of an exhausting read. Vividlyvague reverted to his more usual approach after last week's spectacular effort, which was disappointing. Mr. J appeared to be attempting to bring something extra but instead lost his naturally fluid lyricism. Both of you took very obvious hostage-based approaches to the topic. The differentiating factors were Mr. J's diction and Vividlyvague's ending. Mr. J, you always seem to blend really good phrasing with really sloppy and awkward rhyme-forcing. But here, Vividlyvague was doing the latter without the former. Vividlyvague, that ending is sure to be divisive, and I'm guessing it was the tipping point in the split voting above me. I didn't like it. It felt like it didn't justify the length of the verse because there wasn't enough foreshadowing of the right kind. This was close. You've both done much better.

Vote: Mr. J