Round 28

Yusef: "Villlanelle" by George Higgins

Bob: "Affirmation" by Donald Hall

Higgins' villanelle beginning "When Steven Spielberg spoke at Oakland High" is simply brilliant. I'm a sucker for a villanelle (or sestina or pantoum), and this one packs a punch. The idea is that they try to fix up the usually dilapidated school in advance of Spielberg's visit. (He visited the school apparently because some students had laughed inappropriately during a screeing of Schindler's List.) The poem wouldn't have worked if it weren't a villanelle.

I can see how the emotional rawness of Hall's poem appealed to Bob. "To grow old is to lose everything." To be fair, this is an above average poem for Hall, who everyone knows to be an utter mediocrity. Yusef wins with Higgins' villanelle.

After 28

11-13-4