Encased

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Encased by Valerie Parente

I know I said I killed my younger self
but I was lying
I didn’t kill her
I locked her away
so that she would feel safe.

I thought I threw away the key
so I could preserve her whimsy
but I forgot in my haste
that behind a glass case
she could watch the world change
while staying the same age.

My life went on and progressed
with my inner child as my witness
and it took a long time
before I finally realized
I wasn’t trying to prove myself
to society or anyone else.

I’m not trying to impress you
I’m trying to impress 12 year old me
to be her idea of beauty
so that she could see
all those big scary feelings
didn’t kill her dreams
and it was this epiphany
that revealed the key
so I unlocked the case
and I set younger me free
as a way to say “forgive me
I loved you more than anything
may you go with ease
may you go with peace.”

– Valerie Parente (11-23-2025)

Claws

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Claws by Valerie Parente

With claws I dug myself
a little hole into hell
6 feet underground
so I could never be found
and just as you’d expect
my vision adjusted to the darkness
until I no longer noticed
the depth of the hopelessness.

But one day the earth quaked
maybe it was chance, maybe fate
and for one second I saw too much
a flicker of light from above
I realized my surroundings
and I finally saw it for what it is
a hole inside the earth
a home for the dead and the dirt.

But there was something else in the ground
amongst the bones splayed around
neural pathways spread like roots
reaching down from the grass roof
and without hesitation or fright
I climbed them to the sunlight
with these same claws I buried myself with
I ventured out of the abyss.

– Valerie Parente (11-23-2025)

Wind Chimes

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Wind Chimes by Valerie Parente

Out of thin air
you seem to vanish
but that is only true
on a visual canvas.

You still ring in my ears
even though I can’t see you
like the wind that strikes wind chimes
and the sound is the only proof.

You blow me away
with the little signs you show
I can’t see you per se
but I can see how you affect the surroundings I know.

The wind is real
even though you can’t see it
pain is real
even though you can’t see it
love is real
even though you can’t see it
if heaven is real
it doesn’t matter if you believe it
maybe you’re still by my side
even though I can’t see you with my eyes
an energy coursing through time
like the wind to wind chimes.

– Valerie Parente (11-2-2025)

Moved My Soul (Crooked Halo)

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Moved My Soul (Crooked Halo) by Valerie Parente

You moved my soul
when I was told this soul is immobile
and this body was its only home
but now I feel home
anywhere that you go.
Maybe what I thought was a crooked halo
was really an orbit feeling a new pull
tilted, shifting, going rogue
saw my future out there with you
and told me to follow.

– Valerie Parente (11-11-2025)

The Creator’s Paradox

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The Creator’s Paradox by Valerie Parente

What am I
if not God’s art?
God creates perfection
but you say that I’m wrong
and in the same virtuous breath
that I was made in His image all along.
How can the thing that created everything
be a pillar of perfection but create a world of flaws?

Every abomination
was someone’s creation
can we say the creator is sick
but not their rules and their laws
either I am a masterpiece, so idealistic
or I was a mistake never meant to spawn
but the one thing I know for sure is that I exist
so it would be insanity to say that there is no God.

The creator must be an artist
because our existence is a paradox
the goal of art is not to appear perfect
the goal is to express a breath and a thought.

– Valerie Parente (11-11-2025)

The Weight of Memories

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The Weight of Memories by Valerie Parente

Memories carry weight.
I always have a memory of you
and you always have a memory of me
but when one person passes
that weight is no longer split evenly
all of a sudden it’s all on you
to carry all the moments we perceived
and memories all to one person
is what we call grief.

It is painful, but take it as an honor
that your loved one imparted them to you
now you get to carry them with you
in everything you do.

– Valerie Parente (1-1-2025)

Kindred Spirits

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Kindred Spirits by Valerie Parente

I’ve said this so many times
how I see figures in the middle of the night
flashing silhouettes with no face
but I see them and I’m never afraid.

I call the flickering ghosts my kindred spirits
something that should be scary but I don’t fear it
we are not unlike each other all that much
we mean no harm but scare the ones who love us.

I see myself in them, as strange as it seems
wanting to be seen, wanting to be believed
for the ways I misread my anxiety signals
a little broken brain with a flicker of wisdom.

Maybe I relate because I’m also like a ghost
bound to this home, and I don’t know how to let go
and every time I try to make myself get up and move
I come back to the same place, this same bedroom.

I believe in the kindred spirits I see
as do they believe in me
maybe they’re trying to say
believe in yourself all the same.

When I finally leave this room
I hope they come with me too
because they remind me there is more
than just material in this world.

– Valerie Parente (10-31-2025)

Give Them Hell

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Give Them Hell by Valerie Parente

I’m the monster
that my monsters are afraid of
because they wouldn’t be trying so hard to take me down
if they didn’t know what I’m capable of.
The truth is they believe in me
more than anyone else
so when I get paranoid and believe nothing is real
I can still believe in one thing, and that’s myself.

The dark entities in your mind
want to take you down to where the pain dwells
so if they’re gonna make a monster out of you
you might as well give them hell.

– Valerie Parente (10-26-2025)

Gossip

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Gossip by Valerie Parente

The voices in my head
like to gossip about me
little cliques from a school
a school of thought I attend daily.

They say never speak ill of the dead
but what if it’s the dead that speaks
leftover whispers from the depression
gossiping ghosts I already buried.

It’s anxiety that gossips
it’s intuition that simply breathes
with fear you’re not the one talking
you’re the one eavesdropping intently.

I will never be a victim to negative words
there is no need to go mad or worry
because the voices can’t talk behind my back
when I can see them right in front of me.

– Valerie Parente (10-18-2025)