Night Vision

January 11, 2026Leave a comment

Night Vision by Valerie Parente

Every night becomes day
and every day becomes night
there is nothing permanent
about this fight that you fight.

When I was young I developed night vision
finding beauty in darkness all around
so I made that my main mission
to paint it all out, to write it all down.

You see these eyes, they adapted
as these pupils grew far and wide
thriving in the day as well as evening
now I’m twice as much alive.

It was scary at first
deciphering the shapes under the shadows
but that’s the glory in growing lucid
what was once a dream is now in your control.

I see you, I see it all,
you can run but you can’t hide,
I will see you again
next time with a third eye.

– Valerie Parente (1-11-2026)

Raven Reverie

January 11, 2026January 11, 2026Leave a comment

Raven Reverie by Valerie Parente

I had a vision
of a lady in a gown
but it was a bird cage
where a raven could be found.

I saw it all in a dream
a future I could articulate and pronounce
so I plucked a feather from the raven
and I wrote the whole thing down.

I believe in manifestation
and there were hints all around
like that feeling of remembering
when something new played out.

There were moments in my life
where a clue was said out loud
and I knew it was speaking to my soul
because there was no hesitation or doubt.

Every reverie
once suspended in the clouds
like a bird flying in the sky
that always ends up in the ground.

We bring to the earth
ideas from a place so profound
that the very act of thought
transcends all logic and sound.

– Valerie Parente (1-11-2026)

The Creator’s Paradox

November 11, 2025November 11, 2025Leave a comment

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 Cycle of Art

October 19, 2025October 20, 2025Leave a comment

The Cycle of Art by Valerie Parente

➔ realizes there’s ugliness in the world
➔ inspires art
➔ art brings beauty into the world
➔ the healing starts
(and repeat)

– Valerie Parente (10-19-2025)

The Damsel & The Demon OUT NOW

August 24, 2025August 24, 2025Leave a comment

The Damsel & The Demon by Valerie Parente

BUY HERE

The Damsel & The Demon is a poetry/fantasy story hybrid (verse novel) meant to be an allegory for the healing process, whether that be healing from addiction, a toxic relationship, a traumatic event, or anything in between. Valerie drew inspiration from her personal struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia to create this Allegory for Healing through the lens of the main character, Daphne. For both Daphne and Valerie, fleeting feelings can only exist as fixations, and the rhythmic stanzas of an internal dialogue, playing like poetry, is the conduit between the mentally disordered author and the hexed protagonist of this story. There is so much beauty in healing, but healing is still ever so messy, uncovering darkness where we expected light and vice versa. Determined to create this massive poem with no help from search engines or AI, Valerie made it her mission to come up with every rhyme on her own; turning to the internet for help was forbidden. As a result, The Damsel & The Demon is an authentic fantastical dark fairytale scripture rich with revelations and an aim to help readers everywhere see themselves in the damsel archetype as well as the ailment they struggle to separate from in the demon.

Valerie Parente is a writer and artist from Massachusetts whose bodies of work often explore the theme, “Finding beauty in darkness” and general mental health awareness.

Meraki

August 10, 2025August 10, 2025Leave a comment

Meraki by Valerie Parente

I’m okay
spilling my guts
into everything
that I touch.

I don’t mind
crying blood
because it shows me
what I’m made of.

I’m content
throwing up
all the words
that I love.

I’m at peace
putting a piece of me
into everything that I do
so that when this body decays
a little piece of me lives on with you.

We All Have Scars

July 10, 2025July 11, 2025Leave a comment

We All Have Scars by Valerie Parente

No one makes it out of this life
unscathed
you’re going to get scars
anyways
you might as well make them
into pretty shapes
because art is just the scars
we manipulate.

– Valerie Parente (7-10-2025)

Little Nightling That Dwells

July 9, 2025July 16, 2025Leave a comment

Little Nightling That Dwells
by Valerie Parente

I know you
like the back of my hand
dwelling in the dark
like roots under land.

Creature of the night
you are so in love
because the darkness was with you
when no one else was.

I know you
little nightling that dwells
on the pain and trauma
you know oh so well.

You love the dark
but does the dark love you?
When branches grow from roots
you become living proof.

Pain without art
is like a seed in the dark
but pain with a purpose
grows above the earth’s surface
reaching for the sun
when it’s all said and done.
You are more than your roots
you are what thrives above too.