In New York the leaves tempt tangerines and raspberries

from their chlorophyll

with more grace than me

tempting words from my busted hand.

It’s Tuesday and I’ve been staring out a screen

imagining the crisp scent of autumn

wafting from the nearest tree, but

I live in Florida and the leaves are as green as grapes

ripe from Publix

and the humidity still clings to every breath of air

ripening in the heat. The roadkill

is as pungent as ever

along the highway that takes me to neither

the trees nor the shore

and would carry it

if I could pull the bones from its broken body

to resurrect it on my bookshelf

next to the boar skull the ants cleaned

last spring. I’d watched the world wake

early from winter and weave

the coral vines through my fence

to strangle my budding tangerine tree

with the same intensity I denounce

the warm rains of early October

and the inadequacy of the living

to honor the dead.

Florida showers leave the sun to hang hopeful in the sky.

Even under the safety of the umbrella it left

its reflection to bloom aureolin under your fingers

at the first drops of rain —

like when the artists had spread their paint across the watercolors

hanging inside the café,

bright splashes of hope to contrast the blues. Across the table

you uncross your legs, open

like the orchids flourishing on the windowsill,

lounging in the humidity

while it collects in your hair and trickles down your neck

like the most bewitching of poetry.

Sea salt made a fine layer of dust on your skin

when the cresting waves alternatingly

pushedand pulled your body

with the readiness of a lover. I stood

on the shore, toes gently lapped

by the aftermath to

the small violences you refused to shy away from

and daydreamed about your voice against my skin.

I called out to you, then,

and culled the seashells from my fist to select

the one best suited for your hand.

Gerrymandering is the drawing of voter districts in a way which minimizes the political power of the foe. In Florida and Alabama, congressional districts resemble absurdly designed puzzle pieces as minorities are packed into as few districts as possible

It is only because of over a century of racist vote fraud that Republicans are senators in Alabama.  Gerrymandering is egregious in Bama while neglectful has been Obama.

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America’s most gerrymandered districts

America’s most gerrymandered congressional districts

http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/voting-rights-act-2.jpg

			America’s most gerrymandered congression... A brief overview of crimes against geography in the 113th Congress.
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Gerrymandering on trial in Alabama and Florida

http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2014/06/gerrymandering-on-trial-in-alabama-and-florida/

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119019/civil-rights-movement-going-reverse-alabama