## Poet's Note *This is an imaginative work. Any resemblance to actual persons, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The section headings are taken from Indeed Editorial Team,* 8 Signs of Gaslighting at Work (and How to Overcome It).[^2] *"Gaslighting" is a form of psychological manipulation "intended to make the victim doubt their capacity, attitude, and/or reality."*[^3] *According to various sources, gaslighting is on the rise.*[^4] --- 1\. Omission of Information \ No one revealed the identity of the donor funding an Underground Railroad for Embryos. \ \ 2\. Negative Performance Narrative \ During Covid how could anyone publish with children at home and Zoom to wrangle? \ \ 3\. Fluctuating Expectations \ Three articles in five years according to University rules. The unwritten rule is bat-like folding its wings into itself. The unwritten rule flies around at night. \ \ 4\. Invalidation \ Given a course release, the expectation to publish increases exponentially. Some say 2 + The + means vampire kiss. \ \ 5\. Professional Exclusion \ I can't talk about it. It is confidential. Let's just say the bias was ripe as Camembert left out for days. \ \ 6\. Inconsistent Application of Rules \ There are three legs to the stool. One leg has a hard-on, the other two wear a yellow and green hat. No, this isn't an LSAT problem. Teaching and service are impotent. \ \ 7\. Victim Blaming \ Because she wore the red bra, because security didn't walk her to the garage, because she didn't get the grant, because she was a poet. \ \ 8\. Selective Listening \ I said the chair, humble four-legged throne, not the stool. [^1]: ^∗^ Susan Ayres, J.D., Ph.D., M.F.A., has published two chapbooks of poems: Walk Like the Bird Flies (2023) and Red Cardinal, White Snow (2024). [^2]: Indeed Editorial Team, *8 Signs of Gaslighting at Work (and How to Overcome It)*, Indeed Career Guide (updated Mar. 3, 2025), . [^3]: Kyle C. Velte, *The Supreme Court's Gaslight Docket*, 96 Temp. L. Rev. 391, 395 (2024). [^4]: *See, e.g.*, *id.* at 407--38; Leslie Jamison, *So You Think You've Been Gaslit*, New Yorker: Annals of Psychology (Apr. 1, 2024), \[https://perma.cc/SCF7-PD77\]; Jesse Wegman, *The Supreme Court Is Gaslighting Us All*, N.Y. Times (July 12, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/12/opinion/supreme-court-psychological-manipulation.html; Jane Campbell Moriarty, *Hysteria Redux: Gaslighting in the Age of Covid*, 15 ConLawNOW 65 (2024); Rachel V. Rose & Mark Kleiman, *The Critical Role That Men Play in Thwarting Bias and Hostility Toward Women*, Fed. Law. July/Aug. 2022, at 73; Frances E. Chapman, *At the Intersection of Discrediting, Degradation and Denigration: Coercive Control, Parental Alienation, and "Institutional Gaslighting,"* 44 Women's Rts. L. Rep. 52 (2022); Carlos R. Soltero & Kayla Carrick Kelly, *Gaslighting: Should It Be Recognized as a Tort in Texas?* 84 Tex. Bar J. 584 (July/Aug 2021); Delaney Rives Knapp, *Fanning the Flames: Gaslighting as a Tactic of Psychological Abuse and Criminal Prosecution*, 83 Alb. L. Rev. 313 (2020); G. Alex Sinha, *Lies, Gaslighting and Propaganda,* 68 Buff. L. Rev. 1037 (2020); Taylor Simpson-Wood, *The Precarious Position of the Fourth Estate in Trumptopia: The Role of Popular Culture and the Law in Protecting Media Freedom,* 49 Sw. L. Rev. 1 (2020); Sofaly v. Portfolio Recovery Assocs., LLC, Civil Action No. 23-2018, 2024 WL 3652866, at \*5, \*7 (W.D. Pa. Aug. 5, 2024) (entering sanctions against counsel for ethical violations described by the court as "gaslighting"); Lall v. Corner Inv. Co., Case No. 2:20-cv-01287-CDS-NJK, 2023 WL 6197334, at \*7 (D. Nev. 2023) (entering Rule 11 sanctions against plaintiff's counsel and ordering over \$90,000 in attorneys' fees to be paid by counsel for conduct in part described by court as "gaslighting"); Healy v. Healy, Docket No. LLI FA 6017101S, 2019 WL 13455430, at \*1 (Conn. Super. Ct. Aug. 14, 2019) (alleging gaslighting in a divorce proceeding); Jackson Women's Health Org. v. Currier, 349 F. Supp. 3d 536, 540 n.22 (S.D. Miss. 2018), *rev'd sub nom.* Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Org., 597 U.S. 215 (2022) ("\[T\]his Court concludes that the Mississippi Legislature's professed interest in 'women's health' is pure gaslighting"), *cited in* Serena Mayeri, *The Critical Role of History after* Dobbs, 2 J. Am. Const. Hist. 171, 204--05 (2024).

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