you collect silk ties to build your disguise

you collect lies like they’re going out of fashion

I collect storm-skies to match my eyes

and teardrops from clouded compassion

you collect kisses from all your mistresses

with no witnesses to your betrayals

I collect obsessive distresses

and vicious hisses from behind acid scales

you collect broken hearts like stamps on coffee cards

you collect charred scars from fires infernal

I collect truth shards to meld into new guards

and hard skins with wounds eternal

'Collections' is a poem about infidelity, where Leah uses repetition of the word 'collect' in conjunction with repeated internal rhymes to convey both the continuing justification for a prolonged affair, as well as the continuing harm they often cause.

blind eyes stare at a smartphone screen,

a discarded tongue lies on the ground,

voiceless words lingering on its tip.

​

gaping mouths consume content, devoid of meaning,

frozen fingers hover over unsent messages,

unsocial media a world away.

​

batteries power down into unconsciousness,

monuments to lies believed,

voices swiped away from cracked glass.

Leah wrote 'Lost Voices' as a commentary on how social media can leave people feeling alone, isolated, or unable to speak out about their mental health. In this poem, Leah uses grotesque imagery to signify what humans can become through near constant automation.

all I am is a vessel, for you

to manipulate.

you’ll use me

then discard me.

​

you might not want me.

but I’m glad I’m not like you.

I’m empty, hollow,

can’t love.

​

can't discard something I once loved.

what you don’t seem to know

is that the thudding of a heartbeat

is the only magic there is in this world.

Written for Arts University Bournemouth's 'Magical Fairytales' exhibition with The Lighthouse Theatre (Poole), Leah subverts the characteristics of a marionette to portray the  feelings of someone who cannot create lasting emotional attachments.