In case you don't know what this is all about: I'm facing off the Best American Poetry series, 2002 vs. 2003, poem by poem, in the order the poems appear in the volumes (alphabetical by last name of poet). Scroll down to Monday September 17 for the beginning.

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Round 25

Yusef: "The Opaque" by Mark Halliday

Bob: "Beginning with a Phrase by Simone Weil" by Peter Gizzi

Halliday's meditation on poetic opacity is rich with examples--"Blueprints for the wiring of public buildings in Singapore." The poem goes on a little too long, and becomes too *transparent* at times, but is still more interesting than Gizzi's variations on the phrase "there is no better time than the present." The two poems are not that dissimilar. Gizzi makes fewer mistakes in his excellent poem, and I almost gave the round to him because of my irritation with Halliday, but Halliday holds the reader's attention more strongly, winning the round for Yusef.

After 25:

Yusef: 8; Bob: 13; Tie: 4