47 Comments
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Mark Armstrong's avatar

Almost a dead heat, but "abject construct of apathetic context" spoke to me, and I had to give Edward what's-his-name the nod by half a percentage point. Jolly good work, fellows!! 👍😅

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Edward Swafford's avatar

Bless you!

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The Forgotten Muse's avatar

Because flesh-deep beauty and so-soft skin

Is the rarest fucking commodity

Amazing depth and nuance as always.

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Edward Swafford's avatar

Thank you! I’m going to try and go undefeated throughout this entire series 😂😂💄

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The Forgotten Muse's avatar

Haha i feel like i should start some back alley betting club and start taking 50s on the versus contenders lmao

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Edward Swafford's avatar

We got over 400 views yet only 30 or so votes, I think ppl didn’t realize it’s anonymous. Not even editors can see who voted for who.

Even email subscribers without a Substack account can vote. I hope the voting is higher for our Wrestlemania event.

Aren’t you headlining that one? Forgotten “Finish Her!” Muse vs Laura “KO” Catanzano?

I’d say that’s a dead even 50/50 contest.

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The Forgotten Muse's avatar

🤣🤣🤣🤣 not the mortal combat poetry

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The Forgotten Muse's avatar

this needs a chaser…

I’m chasing that feeling.

I’m chasing feeling.

Story of my life

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E.R. Davis's avatar

You guys closed the votes too soon! But I enjoyed both poems so I can't be too upset

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Edward Swafford's avatar

They’re only active for 24 hours, Round Two will feature six writers in three 1V1 contests!! 🖤🖤🙌🏻

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Debdutta Pal's avatar

I voted right before the poll closed. Phew.

But I hadn't had my second coffee yet, so I came back to re-read these. Who wants to go grocery shopping now? I'm addicted to how magical both the poems are.

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H. R. Sinclair's avatar

Make sure to get your third coffee to walk round the aisles.

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Edward Swafford's avatar

Ha ha! Round Two has 3 bouts, I’m so excited to see the battles! ^_^.

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Laney Mills's avatar

Very close, both were excellent. Good going both of you! 🥰

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H. R. Sinclair's avatar

Thank you Laney!!

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Vision2Verse's avatar

Had to marinate on these all day, both are fire pieces

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H. R. Sinclair's avatar

Tough choice, ay. We appreciate you!

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Black Coffee Creative's avatar

I agree, SOC vs poetry is a nice showdown.

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julie radford's avatar

No no no you guys can’t do this to me! 💀😭 I love them both so much omg

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Edward Swafford's avatar

😂😂 It’s just a simple, anonymous, poll of which piece “won” the challenge.

Separate the person from the piece 🖤.

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julie radford's avatar

Oh of course - otherwise I’d never vote for you anyway like…?! JUST KIDDING OMG LOVE YA hahaha ❤️‍🔥 but I just love how different both pieces are yet strangely similar and they both speak to my dark soul 🥹

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Edward Swafford's avatar

#Hate2LoveMyWriting

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Black Coffee Creative's avatar

I'm like Hillary circa 2016: get the vote out!!!

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Laney Mills's avatar

😂 good analogy!

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Tina Rogers's avatar

Totally different, but both brilliant. This so hard!

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Edward Swafford's avatar

Thank you! Yeah, Hazza went straight for ekphrastic land and I drifted quite a bit from the image.

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H. R. Sinclair's avatar

im ecstatic for ekphrastic!

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Black Coffee Creative's avatar

Voting is part of the fun! No moochy hurt feelings live in our house 😍💯

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Luis Rosa's avatar

Haha terrific—you guys are something else

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Luis Rosa's avatar

p.s.: I didn't vote because I think the readers are the ones who won

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Edward Swafford's avatar

We created this entire concept based around voting 😂😂😂.

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Luis Rosa's avatar

I thought that was a joke, Dinno 😁💀hope you also don’t take it too seriously

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Rea de Miranda's avatar

I love both!

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Edward Swafford's avatar

We heart you, Rea.

Just make sure you love mine more 🖤.

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Rea de Miranda's avatar

I 🖤 yours the best, Edward!

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H. R. Sinclair's avatar

I’m fine (my heart is shattered into a million pieces)

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Rea de Miranda's avatar

Oh noooo! It's Edward's fault. 💞💞💞

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H. R. Sinclair's avatar

With a jaw line like that, I should have known he was a heartbreaker.

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Edward Swafford's avatar

😮‍💨🥰🙌🏻🙌🏻🥳

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H. R. Sinclair's avatar

This was a close one. I really sat with both for a while but, after conscious and clear-headed deliberation, I'm gonna have to go with H. R. Swafford

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Edward Swafford's avatar

I want Edwin Richard Hightower to win.

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Samantha Lazar's avatar

Both so raw and intense. Both shared character witness. You both rock. 🎸

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H. R. Sinclair's avatar

You rock too Queen!

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Edward Swafford's avatar

Thank you!

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Jessica's avatar

This was so hard! Both poems were fabulous - I had to read each through twice! 🥳

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H. R. Sinclair's avatar

Thank you Jessica! I'm glad we made it at least somewhat tricky, however better mine- I mean Edward's is.

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Edward Swafford's avatar

It was so difficult to write! It's a weird feeling knowing someone else is writing a piece based off of the same image.

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