Suppose you’re one of three people who agreed to judge the third annual Words on Fire Poetry Festival. In addition to bragging rights, the winner of the competition gets his or her poem posted on the festival’s web site and receives a check for $1,000. You knew when you agreed to judge the contest that it was going to be extremely competitive due to its high stakes. However, you did not expect to be at the center of a heated controversy before the first round of competition even begins.

Here's what happened: One of the contestants raised an objection over the poem that another contestant entered into the contest, claiming the poem should be disqualified because it isn’t actually a poem, but a story broken up into lines. The author of the entry in question, which is titled "The Whole Story," insists that the piece is, in fact, a poem—it’s just a poem that tells a story. The other two judges are divided on the issue—one believes the poem is a really a very short story, and the other believes it is a narrative poem. That leaves you with the task of determining whether the piece is a poem or a story and, in the process, deciding if it can remain in the competition.