Penmanship by Valerie Parente
Your penmanship
is so personal
and I’ve been reading
with a purpose.
Now he’s writing
on the surface
with sweet words
in messy cursive,
a little overwhelming
but so damn worth it
and I don’t mind
being nervous
because anxiety
with my favorite person
sits on a page
so imperfectly perfect.
– Valerie Parente (5-12-2021)
With The Tide by Valerie Parente
I decided a long time ago,
that I was going to be alright,
when that first disappointment hit,
I looked my reflection in the eyes,
said, “I will never get over this,
but I will certainly survive.”
Sunny days always came,
the sadness ebbs with the tide.
I remember my teenage self,
and I refuse to waste her time.
I’m a product of those days,
as they were a product of my mind.
You don’t need to forget
for your pain to subside,
you just need to accept
that this is your timeline.
– Valerie Parente (5-10-2021)
Seraphic Daydreams by Valerie Parente
Hope has always been so much bigger than the pain and the recovery,
Seraphic daydreams have always been the predominant part of me,
An ideal reality I blew into the air, as natural as the wind,
but I worried about the intrusive thoughts that persist,
and the truth is, you can think all you want,
but it’s belief in the heart…
that is the real charge.
I do not fear my demonic OCD fixations anymore,
because I know they don’t represent my angelic core.
– Valerie Parente (5-10-2021)
Poisoned Apple by Valerie Parente
There was a curse upon that orchard,
stemming from each apple seed,
and when the cold came around,
an apple fell from the apple tree,
sour and rotting from the inside
when it was supposed to be sweet,
poisoned from its very core,
just like a mental disease,
they told me to give it to a man,
since they often cause the grief,
but I knew if I poisoned a man,
it was the same as poisoning me,
and on the rainiest of rainy days,
I let that apple decay in the leaves,
because hurting those who hurt you,
is an excuse for the weak,
and the earth responded so kind,
to a woman’s forgiveness and mercy,
the ground swallowed that apple,
then it swallowed another three,
and as each fruit fell to the soil,
it was healed from its malady,
altogether the orchard ripened,
and it was as good as freed,
cured by a change of thought,
that’s how we reach true equality.
– Valerie Parente (5-8-2021)
Wildflower by Valerie Parente
Wildflower,
pressed against these pages,
just a bookmark of these phases,
in all your waxing and waning,
tissue paper petals for taking,
in this meadow I’ve been saving,
unintentional in all its making,
from seeds that stray adjacent,
once so wild, now so patient,
poetry on a page that’s been dated,
where my Wildflower lies naked,
years after the displacement,
a simple plant so complicated.
– Valerie Parente (5-4-2021)
The Pictures I Paint by Valerie Parente
The hurt painted a different picture
and that is okay.
I can work on a new canvas
without changing yesterday.
Nothing is mutually exclusive
when it comes to heartache.
There’s an art to this heart
and everything that I say.
You can be my one and only
despite the past pain.
I forgive and I give
and continue to paint.
Another picture, this time with hope
but this one will be framed.
– Valerie Parente (4-23-2021)
Incense by Valerie Parente
These incense
in a scent
bid my innocence
in a sense
’cause I am aware
of the consciousness we share
like smoke everywhere
as it fills the sweet air.
– Valerie Parente (4-23-2021)
Value In Pain by Valerie Parente
At the end of the day
you are only as valuable as your pain.
Anybody can do good when they feel good
but tell me what you gain
when you’re far from fine.
Do you learn from your broken heart?
Or do you let it deteriorate your mind?
Tell me what you create
when expression is the focal point
and everything else
is no more than background noise.
– Valerie Parente (4-21-2021)
Virtuoso by Valerie Parente
The virtuoso had a way with sound,
able to move every rock or stone,
forcing movement through sound waves,
that’s how she moved every soul.
“I feel everything you fear,”
she told the townsfolk,
and she sat before piano keys,
as they watched the organ grow.
Every new listener
was as good as fooled,
they thought they were witnesses,
but they were really her muse.
The years went by,
and this girl continued to play,
playing on others’ emotions,
and for years, that was okay.
But the townspeople became suspicious
as she built a world so profound,
and it wasn’t much longer
until they had her all figured out.
People lit their torches,
with one hope in return,
if she was still going to play,
she might as well get burnt.
That piano caught fire,
in this land full of discipline,
as if a village were ablaze,
on top of the instrument.
The surface of the piano,
grew higher and higher,
like cottages in flames,
and she still felt inspired.
The townsfolk failed in their mission,
to mute the music with heat,
because sound can withstand,
any temperament you preach.
– Valerie Parente (4-19-2021)
Poetry: Sight and Sound by Valerie Parente
There’s something about using words to paint a vivid picture
while creating rhythms and rhymes with your diction.
The combination of sight and sound
is what makes poetry so profound.
Whether I’m telling a fantasy story or declaring my feelings,
I’m inclined to write it like art to catalyze the healing
and poetry speaks to my soul most effectively
and I think it translates to the reader effortlessly.
– Valerie Parente (4-17-2021)
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