Stefanie Shapiro

Stefanie Rose Shapiro started writing as a young girl but decided to pursue it seriously as an adult when she entered a Doctorate program at Drew University where she is pursuing a concentration in Creative Writing.  She also holds a MA in Forensic Psychology and a MPH from Harvard. Her work has been published in Dark Winter Literary Magazine and New Jersey Bards Poetry Review 2023.  When she is not working on her memoir, she enjoys teaching; pickleball; Scrabble; walking outdoors; snacking on cotton candy grapes; and spending time with her son and dog. She currently resides in northern NJ.

my birthright is to bleed

I shall never have any peace again

because my birthright is to bleed

innocence ended                 a natural affliction

youth flies fast        my blood a stamped blotch on its freedom

pained limbs lengthening   my mind expanding

I contain supernatural abilities       so I’m told

my womb a wound that nourishes and fills

a rite of passage      branded birth

I bleed for the future          for my son

I bleed for the past  to hold onto my youth

and all that blood drains me           devours me until

it is no more                  I am no more

nothing more than

an empty vessel that moves within

sailing the dark waters of time

carrying the pirated weight of memories

until

my aged womb becomes numb

silent

stealthy

         my body wants to abandon it

my mind running after those last beating drops

chasing them down

begging them to stay

yelling at them to leave

there are too many directions to flee

until

no part of me is my own

years beholden to time

and then it is finally that moment

when the blood coursing through

is now for me alone

and I am free           again