! You're suggesting that NEHOC's barbs are actually directed at me? I would have had to have seen/known Critic2's inventory of poetry, and then conspired to lend the choice of topic to support one in particular. Or, C2 would have had to write me on the side and say, "Hey, I have a poem that would be great, if you choose 'seedy hotel' as a theme!"Believe it or not, I'm fully capable of making my own, clear, unfettered, uninfluenced choices for a theme ~ even though I had three possibilities aligned, with seedy hotel having been my first thought, I did pass them by Laurie. When she felt seedy hotel to be the best, I went with my first instinct. Choosing a Leonardesque theme opens up a plethora of possibilities, so I stopped it at the three, in the interest of 'getting on' with the contest. However, I can tell you what prompted my instinct. Leonard's comment regarding seedy hotels was made in the first article I'd ever seen on him. From many years ago. I still have it [most of it
~ it seems to be lacking the end page 
]. It's from Look magazine, which I don't believe even exists anymore. The photo of Leonard is sublime ~ he's sitting in front of and beneath the crook of a tree, and looking straight into the camera with a serious expression. He's wearing a black jacket, and maybe a white shirt beneath, as I'm recalling. It was probably a black suit. With me, the clothing is always secondary to the face. It's somewhere around here, the photo. I've seen it since. However, it was and still is very impacting when I look at it.What you're suggesting, however, does implicate me, Makera. There's no way around that. With the way you've constructed and construed NEHOC's position with all of this, however, I see fiction in your future
.~ Lizzy
?
