All these years later,

I still remember learning 

the bolded word 

on the bottom right side 

of my Adventures 

in American History book.

Gerrymandering— 

such a pretty word, the name 

for a medieval dance,

or a walk through the forest

flowers in my hair,

petals in a basket tossed on a path— 

a meandering path.

I still remember turning the page 

and discovering the word’s

true definition:

an intentional distortion of boundaries

to strip rights and make powerless

the voice of the people—

I...