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)

Possession

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Possession by Valerie Parente

My dear possessions
have a way of possessing me
inanimate objects
that feel crucial to my vitality
dolls with glass eyes
but no bloodstream
yet I feel them in my veins
charging my heart beat.

I am possessed
by what I see
surrounding myself
with where I find beauty.
It’s not the devil’s magic
it’s creation, it’s Godly,
merging the material world
with my favorite imagery.

Symbols and signs
hieroglyphics from dreams
attaching to the ego
little trinkets, concrete
but someday I’ll go
and I can’t take them with me
the only everlasting possession
will be the love that I keep.

– Valerie Parente (10-18-2025)

The Butterfly Effect

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The Butterfly Effect by Valerie Parente

When I think of my life’s journey
every event in retrospect
had infinite potential
but it led me to this one breath.
The odds of us crossing paths
and meeting the exact way we met
was virtually impossible
it all had to line up so perfect.
And now my heart flutters
to the beat of the butterfly effect
because I can’t help but believe
this universe has a divine depth.
For so long we were in separate places
but we shared the same chrysalis
while I was getting better
you were becoming your best.
Teach me about your previous life
and I’ll take it from here for the rest
now it’s our beautiful life
as we emerge from metamorphosis.

– Valerie Parente (10-12-2025)

HEARTwork

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HEARTwork by Valerie Parente

You only have so much space in your chest
to fit your trauma into
art is what happens
when your heart runs out of room.

You can writhe and twist
and bend and break
until your heart overflows
and there’s no more space.
So let the blood seep out
and use it to paint
a bigger picture of the human condition
beyond one person’s heartache
and in the act of being seen
from the signature of your veins
the world will have no choice
but to place your trauma in a frame.

Bloodshed

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Bloodshed by Valerie Parente

They say us women are the weak ones
even though every month we shed blood
created with a mechanism for self sacrifice
sometimes giving our own life to create more life.

Not every woman is allowed to do what she wants
some bleed and make life whether they like it or not
and these men only bleed when they decide
deciding to bleed as a means to end lives.

What’s with all these disenchanted young men
thinking the solution is to resort to bloodshed?
That to eliminate their own unpleasant feelings
they must cause some kind of chaos and bleeding.

Their bloodshed is perfectly preventable
a consequence to actions deemed inevitable
but it’s women’s bloodshed that was never a choice
yet our society makes a choice to teach it to boys.

Once a month every year all because of hormones
every week a violent news story because he feels alone
but make no mistake, it was never him vs. her
it’s what we decide to do with nature vs. nurture.

– Valerie Parente (10-4-2025)

Memento Vivere

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Memento Vivere by Valerie Parente

When hatred took a life
and people gathered to grieve
the Devil cruelly boasted
about the havoc that he wreaked
praising the power of hatred
when there is tragedy.
He looked out to all the people
and he shamelessly teased,
“How could you pitiful humans
see catastrophe then denounce me?
Look how people come together
because of the hate I unleashed!”
But the clouds began to part
and the angels looked down lovingly
as the humans who still lived
engaged in their ceremony
watching the overflow of love
in the name of rest in peace.
“People do not come together because of you,”
the angels said with ease,
“People come together in spite of you
and any form of catastrophe.
The power does not stem
from the hate you have breathed
it comes from rejecting the hate
and the Devil’s very defeat.
Hate has no power on earth
it only temporarily fleets
and what withstands after you
is their newfound unity.”

– Valerie Parente (9-30-2025)

Starving Artist

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Starving Artist by Valerie Parente

Eat your words and be compelled
to doubt the passion within myself
when you say I’m not a successful artist
because I haven’t made a profit
that I’m supposed to make money from my art
but I only spend money making art so far
struggling to make it accessible
striving to make it impressionable
but I guess I’m just a “starving artist”
scrambling for coins in empty pockets
how am I supposed to hide from depression and inaction
when I’m standing in the open begging for traction
and the “starving artist” in me starved before
the teenager with anorexia as her mentor
my talent used to be limiting my intake
now my talent is having something of value to say
so don’t you dare preach to me about starvation
when I already mastered the art of deliberate deprivation
if the world really insists on giving me this title
I’m going to be hellbent and entitled
when you use the label “starving artist” again
I’ll eat your words while rhyming them.

– Valerie Parente (9-28-2025)