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Leah Shapiro Poem
we used to be inseparable,
childhood best friends who did everything together
going to each others houses, sleepovers and midnight snacks
crying together, laughing together, telling each other everything
they told us these bonds are special, never to be broken and to last a lifetime
they told us to treasure these moments because they wouldn’t come again
not us we said, we would never watch the distance grow
our friendship could never fade! right?
i get it you want other friends
so do i, we’re only human
it’s okay, we need some time apart
no worries, we don’t have to meet each other that often
i understand, we don’t have to tell each other everything
was i really that replaceable?
forgettable, disposable, expendable?
was i just the one before her?
a way to pass the time until she came along?
just a phase you outgrew or a means to an end?
12 years of friendship and somehow it’s all reduced to this,
when did i become just another memory?
when did i become so easy to leave behind?
i was a small chapter in your story,
but you were my entire book
Copyright © Leah Shapiro | Year Posted 2026
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Leah Shapiro Poem
They say that you’re beautiful.
Gorgeous, pretty, even stunning
You brush it off, move on, it’s rather pitiful,
But it’s just another day… and you’ll keep running
They call you attractive, alluring and a knockout
You ignore it, compliment them instead and hope they don’t prod
It’s easier to tell a truth than to respond to a lie, no doubt?
You hide behind the jokes, the laughter, the facade
Just take the compliment they say, why is it so hard?
If they knew what it would mean they’d turn tail and run
For you to accept it, you’d have to be unscarred
Accept it you will, but that’s it, game over, let it all come undone
They’ll see through the hiding, the running and the fright,
The self-criticism, the comparisons, all the backlash
But when they look a little harder they’ll notice the light
A glowing ember that lies beneath all the ash
Let the mask fall away and the walls break
down,
The confidence, the hope, you’re starting to remember
They’re all waiting outside, you’re no longer bound
We’ve been here all along, your army of defenders
I am who I am despite what has happened to me.
I am not defined by the wounds I carry.
Copyright © Leah Shapiro | Year Posted 2026
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Leah Shapiro Poem
we play tag until our bedtime, run outside while it’s raining and jump in every single puddle
play hide and seek until it’s dark outside and make our own friendship bracelets
back when boys were just boys we ran away from in case they had the cheese touch, when our only care in the world was begging our moms for just five more minutes
i knock on my friends door to call her to come play downstairs with everyone,
she calls out to me that she’ll be there in a minute, she just has to fix her hair and touch up her makeup,
i think to myself about what it is she’s getting ready for, aren’t we just going to play a game of hide and seek?
it’s happening more often these days,
when did boys and our reflections become the only thing we talked about anymore?
when did the cheese touch stop being something we all feared and become the gold star we all lived for?
when did everyone suddenly figure out how to grow up?
when did the guide to girlhood arrive?
how come everyone seems to know what i had never been told?
i tell myself that its alright, ill get it eventually,
ill come back from school one day and it’ll be waiting outside my house with all the instructions i could ever need,
everything will be alright,
but then theres always that little voice that says, “maybe only the pretty girls get the invitation, maybe they have something that you don’t”
everyone else had moved on but somewhere behind them,
they left that little girl,
still jumping around in puddles, singing and dancing in the rain,
looking up every now and then to see if her memo had arrived
Copyright © Leah Shapiro | Year Posted 2026
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Leah Shapiro Poem
i used to think that love wasn’t for me
i thought it was pathetic how someone could devote themselves to catching the attention of some guy,
how someone could build their entire identity around a man,
carefully curating themselves to satisfy the wants and needs of a stranger,
a momentary visitor,
a temporary companion,
they find someone, anyone who looks attractive
they don’t know a thing about him but at least he’s hot
they chip away at themselves,
chisel their personalities down,
until they’ve been manufactured into this perfect little version of themselves that they wouldn’t even recognise anymore,
they tear themselves apart only to hand over the pieces and call themselves desirable
pretending not to care each time his name lights up their screen,
unbeknownst to the fact that their face lights up right along with it,
laughing a little louder at jokes they would usually have ignored,
every outfit worn with him in mind,
every selfie posted hoping he sees it
and perhaps this is the part i never really understood,
how easily someone could change themselves entirely for the smallest chance of being chosen
i used to think it was pathetic,
i still do,
but sometimes i wonder,
while they’re doing their makeup and getting their hair done,
what it would feel like to have a single name pop up on your screen and your day is made,
what it would feel like to have someone to come home to,
to have someone by your side through it all
and then i think to myself that maybe, just maybe
it’s not love that they’re obsessed with,
it’s simply being wanted by another person,
experiencing the strange comfort of seeing the world fall apart in front of you, knowing that nothing could truly be wrong while that one person is by your side
and maybe that’s what i never understood,
maybe i only called it pathetic because i had never known what it felt like?to want something,?and believe you might actually be able to get it
because it’s easy to think something isn’t for you,?when it’s never been offered to you
i used to think love wasn’t for me
Copyright © Leah Shapiro | Year Posted 2026
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