Thorns by Valerie Parente
Thorns,
wringing my neck
hijacking my own prose
and taking my own breath.
Thorns,
tangled with my veins
I long to protect
the thing that constrains.
Thorns,
why do I wear them proud
as if their scratches
make me profound.
Thorns,
mistaken for a preference
I say I’m comfortable with them
but the discomfort is ever present.
Thorns,
such a cruel joke
because my favorite flower
has always been a rose.
Afraid To Fly by Valerie Parente
I have these wings
but I’m too scared to fly
so I pluck out each feather
off my arched spine.
I whisper to them,
“You can never be mine,”
as I rip each feather out
then cross my heart and hope to hide.
I’ve always been cautious
too conscientious to try,
I don’t throw caution to the wind
I throw potential aside.
But these wings always grew back
and I started to realize
every time I crossed my heart
you began to cross my mind.
I was scared to death
when I let the wings reside
but I’ll tell you this
I no longer fear the sky.
They say wings belong to angels
but maybe it’s time
to accept I am the savior
who will answer my own cries.
– Valerie Parente (7-14-2023)
Self Imposed by Valerie Parente
I know what it’s like
to hold your breath for a miracle
only to find out
the miracle is being able to breathe.
– Valerie Parente (7-2-2023)
Ravenheart:
These Veins Are Not In Vain (A Fantasy Chronicle)
by Valerie Parente
The veins on her hands
like trees with no leaves
black and branching out
along her anatomy.
That ravenheart pumped,
her sanctum of midnight,
filtering the darkness
in the dead of the night.
It only hurts a little
to be made of this blood
she got used to the pain
and the love it’s made of.
She looks to her veins
and knows they’re not in vain
because with these hands
she learned to create.
Since her birth in the thunder
she whispered before her slumber
a promise the shadows bid unto her
these words of ancient scripture,
“Take this black hole
and make it whole
feed that world
no others know.
Use great stress
to create great depth
and with this alchemy
you destroy fear of death.”
– Valerie Parente (6-9-2023)
Stony Brook by Valerie Parente
Words about my self are so cold
because this conscious stream is frozen.
I’m making faces under the surface
in the name of what’s unspoken.
I questioned life on solid ground,
but I never stood a chance
at clinging to the rocks
that blistered my own hands.
Underneath the ice I laid on
was an isolation I schemed
where I was swept away by the current
as the current swept by me.
I still cross that stony brook
but I know better this time
holding my own breath
in a space so traumatized.
– Valerie Parente (5-26-2023)
Nervous Habit by Valerie Parente
When I’m nervous
I draw trees.
Picture them naked
in the breeze.
– Valerie Parente (5-18-2023)
Her by Valerie Parente
You never knew her
You knew of her
And the way
She played with fire
Just like every
Woman prior
Who learned the hard way
To be the wiser
Against the system
That would conspire
To dim the light
From her lighter.
A scarlet red
She is a fighter
Among the flames
She has grown brighter.
– Valerie Parente (5-21-2023)
Ravenheart: The Prophecy by Valerie Parente
She who hosts
the ravenheart
will lead a life
in the dark.
When, and only when
she feels the sun’s rays
will she find the strength
to be brave.
– Valerie Parente (4-28-2023)
The Grand Review by Valerie Parente
Now an enlightened Moonchild, Elissa claimed
the greatest discovery of the human race.
And with a quill pen dancing between fingers
she wrote in kraken ink, the law of existence.
When you have died
you review your life.
This is called the Grand Review
and it’s when you view life as you.
Right now, what you are witnessing
is also called, Living.
How..? You might ask.
Everything you endure is the past.
You think right now you are alive
but you have already died
a covert angel, playing it all out
but it feels like you’re here and now
and your very sense of the present
is proof of your everlasting presence.
When you return to your angel form you’ll admit
it does not feel so dark, does it?
Death is one with your life form,
a dual state you cannot hide from.
Little human, cry no more.
You died when you were born.
Do not fear death,
you’re doing it every moment.
– Valerie Parente (4-23-2023)
Believe In Me (A Fantasy Chronicle) by Valerie Parente
Illihana grabbed his collar
and begged him in her grief,
“Believe me when I say
don’t believe in me.
I cannot be the girl
that you need me to be.
With this black hole in my chest
and my heart on my sleeve
it’s only a matter of time
before I collapse to gravity.”
But there was nothing she could say
to convince Sir Dovetail to admit defeat
because when he looked in her eyes
a glimmer of light was all he could see.
– Valerie Parente (3-14-2023)
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