They split the land, but not the pulse.
Roots remember what maps forget.
Every severed line still hums
with breath, with blood, with return.
They drew the map with ash and absence—
not to guide, but to erase.
Districts split like broken ribs,
each line a scalpel,
each vote a ghost.
We watched the ink dry on democracy’s skin,
while they called it strategy.
But we know the truth:
this is not representation.
It is redaction.
They called it strategy,
but we saw the autopsy.
Each district dissected,
each breath rerouted.
We do not consent to silence.
We are the roots beneath the fracture,
the pulse that refuses to be redacted.
We rise, not from permission—
but from memory.
Gather the maps, divide the lines with care,
Every decade brings new charts to trace,
Remember how the shifting votes displace,
Right to select who governs, free and fair.
Yet borders twist, reform beyond compare,
Moving in silence, shaping every place.
At times, it seems a never-ending race,
New rules decide which voices have to bear.
Districts are carved to strengthen or to break,
Elections bend beneath the subtle hand.
Rare is the claim of justice clear and bright,
In corridors where shadows often wake,
Not by the will of people do they stand,
Gaming the seats, they steal away our right.
I went to school with Gerry Mandering, it changed everything.
John G. Lawless
©6/25/2023
Contemptibly craven
Oratory obfuscates
Never nuanced
Gerrymandering guile
Readily reacts to roaring rabble
Egregiously expects economic encouragement
Smug, self-righteous and self- serving
Slippery sounding sound bites
at the growing flock
including male friends relatives,
minus yours truly, whose presence,
would merely generate a yawn,
though even a distinct black swan
received royal carpet treatment
particularly one named Shawn
encompassing another honorable guest
with illustrious surname Rawn
guests underwritten by Cupid,
whose presence surreptitiously withdrawn
(invitations distributed widely explained,
just beak cuz gerrymandering redrawn)
even provoking deer interest
of stray doe eyed fawn
hence lacking bravado and brawn
this bird den some seedy,
yet dove out crow kissing Avocet
trundled off to parts unknown you bet
far from boys stir russ, raw cuss, diss cuss
ting clacking clique, and thus this solitary fret
full ostracized, rejected, unwanted egret,
who heron there experienced many a let
down, not simply because of stork disparity
with the Aves and havenots,
but I never met
any other species so set
in their ways, hence off
on a wing and prayer
in search of other buoys and gulls,
whom this dodo bird they will coe vet!
Why would you candidly care who you beat?
Let them sigh and squirm, no need to retreat.
Are you one of the ones willing to cheat?
It makes the elitist's pain more replete.
The Founders thought fairness helps all compete,
cheating, the word we dassent dare repeat.
Many march on, there can be no defeat;
this passion makes lives forever complete.
Self-righteousness is the high hope we heed,
even if it will not serve every need.
When we win, we will then soundly succeed;
rightfully reaching our true status, creed -
for those part of this tribe, like us indeed.
Bold fallen foes surely deserved to bleed.
This is the fresh start of a brand new breed,
from their yoke we are all finally freed!
Contrarian concepts should be banned,
let us go back to times things were once grand.
Free up our spirits let pure hearts expand,
all shall strive to the death, never disband!
We fought for this, it ought to be our land;
with God's rules they must meet every demand.
This Union will fail, no way it can stand;
as we cheat, it shall soon be well in hand.
24 Lines 192 Words Monorhyme
Unheard voice of the partisan.
Voting Rights/Gerrymandering/Elections
Beaten down for centuries
Splattered in newsprint for all to see
It has been that way ever since
they came from Africa on hollowed ships
Enslaved, raped, hanged, broken
Traded for sins unspoken
Successful towns burned to the ground
Wiped from the maps never to be found
Protestors marched as sons and daughters were shot
Police bullets took lives without a mere thought
The unarmed men and women trying to survive
in a country who ruled they had no right to life
Battered and beaten, black lives shattered
Skin color, if Black leads to lives in tatter
Equal Pay? Equal rights? Do Black lives really matter?
Republicans gerrymandering to silence their rights
Statesmen cloaked scheming through dark days and nights
The front of their neck rests the white man’s knee
trying to gasp out the words “save democracy”
Ignoring their foes
they showed up in droves
Standing in line
No concept of time
Wind howls, rain pour
the right to vote has never been yours
Voting Blues Before May9 2018
Comes 9May, we the voters might have our final say....
Come what may, we hope to decide the politicians who can stay...
But certain factors are distinctly making our choices go astray...
A revision of electorate delineation that reeks of racial play...
Giving meaning to the big fancy word gerrymandering, as they say....
Mysterious shuffling about of voters, the reports are coming in...
There is even a report of a man long dead, his name is still in the voting list...
Awaiting in courts are complaints of duplicated house addresses...
Giving rise to cases of tens of voters in a single house address...
It is on record, up to as many as 60 voters are housed in a single address...
Of course, the evil of money as in money politics is all too obvious...
Political frogs and political big shots wannabes....
Will switch camps shamelessly, so long as big money comes in...
As warned by 92yr old Dr M, even winning political frogs...
Might jump and tilt the balance of power, money talks...
But hope for justice is what all enlightened voters dare to dream...
Comes 9May, can there be a realisation of new better dream...?
Do you vote your mind
Or court your heart
Acquitting party faithful
Whose lies never grow apart
Do you vote for choice
Or for political extortion
Condemning any candidate
Who decries abortion
Do you vote for jobs
Or rally against illegitimate wars
Picketing the freedoms
Of meat-eating, capitalist stores
Do you vote for education
Or for your ideological slant
Burning a child’s future
For an author’s utopian rant
Do you vote for tolerance
Or against an intangible God
Eschewing the zealotry
Of the Marquis de Sade
Do you vote for security
Or against the rule of law
Extolling revolution
Because government has flaws
Do you vote for independence
Or draw your party’s line
Gerrymandering objectivity
For rancor’s incestuous design
Do you vote for healthcare
Or how much you make
Insuring the suffering of patients
Whom doctors won’t take
Do you love America
Or simply love to hate
Voting for the integrity
Of our democratic state