How nice of you^!

Fortunately, I wont make you live with that vote..
It's important that everyone feels they are being fairly judged, and Johnny's critiquing (or lack there of) just wasn't cuttin' it.

Camarac will be judging (assuming he agrees to), So all of Johnny's votes thus far will be DISREGARDED.

This battle is 0-0 right now.

Alright. .

Varentao - A nice take on the topic,
i loved the imagery used in it & with
such few words, and how it was
kinda stop / start added to its
intensity for me. You really caught
the feeling of the topic and portraid
it in this piece, it gave it an eerie
atmosphere to it, nice take on the
tooic. .

Deacon - You really caught me off
guard with that verse! I kind of
expected you to follow suit and
go for the same kinda take on it as
Varentao, but you flipped it nicely,
the piece wasnt vivid to me, i loved
the imagery in it, you really got indepth
with the description of the picture
and i liked that, again, a 'minimalist'
piece as id call it, saying so much in so
few words, but it was a great piece.

Overall - i really liked both verses, two different takes on the topic but both really original, i got into Deacon's one of the painting, the imagery in them both was top notch but thinking back to the topic, Varentao's verse summed it up more for me, his emotion, atmosphere, imagery, just the piece as a whole really conveying it for me.

Sorry deacon, this was a harsh battle, both wrote good pieces, but my vote:Varentao

Pz.

__________________
W o r d P e r f e c t

Well...I've avoided judging this long enough, now..
You both are always very original, and it was a pleasure reading these verses..but only one can move on.

Varentao~
I loved your piece, everything about it. The imagery was great, based on the first couple of sentences alone, I had in my head a scene kind of like one out of Michael Jackson's "thriller" video..(except without the dancing corpses and all that junk). Kind of a ghostly, or like Cam said, "eerie" vibe to it, and great choice of words,

>In streets of darkness,
Where i walk..
Lie LONELY paths,
With thoughts,
From past...
That STALK,
My mind,
To DISTORT,
Some more...

all added to the vibe of this piece.

>Jerking,
Tugging,
Pulling her strings..
To motions so poetic,
Creating temporal bliss..
Blind to lies that rode her dry,
Left here to reminisce time gone by..
Truth now torments to growing decline..

From this part, we kind of fall into this guy's state of reflection, we go into his memory for a brief moment, but in such a small time we are able to see almost exactly why he is here on this "lonley path" and why is increasingly becoming more distressed...

>Blind to lies that rode her dry,

I especially loved that line.

>Each step,
Cold,
Echoing regrets,
Untold...
Stories wept,
Unfold,
from upset,
Moulds...

^This was a superb ending, great impactful structure, no words were wasted, each one used perfectly..The 'never again' theme of the piece, despite its place in the title, is indirectly portrayed, which I like, the reader can take its own from it and see how it incorporates to them. Very emotional, very powerful, very beautifully written...very well done!

Deacon~

>Saw a mountain,
Witnessed the ocean
Tree's so tall they stole the sky......

It's amazing, the imagery here..When I was reading a had a whole mixture of colors in my head, yet you mentioned none in these stanzas or in the whole verse...

>Talked for hours they pass quickly
The sea and cake convinced me
Eye's wide with pride I cry

This is a sad part...and it leads us on nicely to the last stanza..

>An emotion or physical feeling-
A pain although i keep breathing
look at this beautiful scenery..
for this moment then Never again......

I loved this ending..A great way to close everything.."An emotion or physical feeling", very open line, which I like..You know the speaker's time is running out, but it is up to you to decide why...Maybe he had 24 hours to live, then again maybe he's getting ready to serve a life sentence in jail..The last 2 lines were very powerful, kind of makes you think how much we take for granted the beauty in life..and how much we'd miss it if we didn't have it. Very nice job, Deac.

Both of these were very short! Though none were really lacking, I feel like I got more out of Varentao's verse, more present and more past, if that makes and sense..Deacon, you did a great job, and you had an excellent concept! but it just seemed like you had 10 lines left over, which you shunned, but really could have used, to develop more strongly, the nature or the circumstance/situation of the speaker...Like "I saw a mountain, witnessed the ocean"...was kind of blunt. I want to be able to read this and know what the ocean looks like, even if I've never been to the beach...same with the mountains..You could of (and with very few words, at that) given a little more detail to what it was that moved you about each scene. I think that would have made your piece more effective, and is the reason I'm voting for Varantao. He drew me more into his verse with more details, in such few simple words still, more background and a tad more emotion.
Nice job by both of you, though.

VOTE: VARENTAO