Round 40

Yusef: "In the Hall of Bones" by Ted Kooser

Bob: "Address to Winnie in Paris" by Sarah Manguso

The premise of Kooser's poem is clever. I like his description of bones, but he ruins the poem with a sentimental ending:

... Of all the skeletons
assembled here, this is the only one
in which throbbed a heart
made sad by brooding on its own shadow

Manguso's prose-poem epistle is delightful. (I feel a little awkward because this is the first poet I'm discussing here who actually might read this blog.) Compare her ending with Kooser's:

"What the lover seeks is the possibility of return, the strange heart beating under every stone."

Bob wins again. Score after 40:

13-21-6