[Jennifer Gordon]

Weel, the octet tripping along with a fairly even flow, that ends abruptly as L9 forgets a weak beat and left me choking, trying to find my way back until it winked at me whispering trochaic took the cake; in fact that entire sestet sniffs at rules while licking its fingers contentedly and too smugly, I might add.
Metre forced therein, I beg pardon for throwing up my hands and sighing.
Fascinatingly rendered, I could swear no children made it into the top ten as adulthood assesses its autumnal hours with a wiser note, saving it still childishly eschews rules.
Elsewise, I enjoyed the trip and rich metaphors.

[Martin Rocek]

I can't quite make up my mind about this one, but agree that Q2 is the weakest part. It is intriguing and I keep coming back to read it, so that is good.

[Andrew Frisardi]

I regret that I didn’t notice this entry until it was too late. If I had, it would have been my number 1 choice in the voting.

I disagree with people who say the second quatrain is expendable. The poem opens with a quatrain about subtracting physical attributes, and the second stanza talks about the “process of elimination” of intangible (soul) qualities. It’s an essential phase leading up to the volta. These lines are a knockout:

Slide back the paper screens of self that snare
with furtive silhouettes the inward gaze.

Others here have rightly mentioned the metaphorical richness of the piece.

So, to the poet: sorry I didn’t get my vote right, but I wanted to register my response to this poem and especially the second stanza. In any case, Aaron the DG liked it a lot, and it was up there in the voting among the entries.

I should have been more thorough in making sure I didn't miss any entries--I do plan to read my ballot for the U.S. Presidential election a bit more carefully.

[R. Nemo Hill]

I didn't have time to comment on any of the poems this year, but this one really did stand out for me as superb on every level.

Nemo