Tag: art

Divine Design

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Divine Design by Valerie Parente

There’s no such thing as coincidence
there has to be design
because how can I find the perfect words
that just so happen to rhyme?
You’re telling me poets are just lucky?
That language just so happens to coincide
that there’s rhythm to the psyche
that can be written in artistic lines
that the material world naturally mirrors
the effortless world inside my mind?
No, I don’t believe in luck
I believe in the divine
based on every one of your points
used to describe otherwise.

– Valerie Parente (6-15-2021)

Nemesis (Not Me)

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Nemesis (Not Me) by Valerie Parente

I’m finally happy
and my OCD still found me.
I see you in my dreams
with a tangible body
but when I go to defeat you
you’re the nemesis that continues
like a chain that keeps repeating
in a relationship so uneven.
I see you in so many forms
using my sweet slumber to return
and I punch, I kick, I scream
I wrestle to separate from the enemy
and I get oh so frantic
to justify my antics
begging the peers before my eyes
to understand that I’m the good guy
that I am separate from this disease
but then I wake up and it’s not a dream.
I still have this sickness on my skin
when I’m awake I’m still hallucinating
and it’s hard to believe I used to be afraid
convinced I’d be so lost without this charade
but now that I’m full grown I finally see
that this disease is nothing without me.
You’re just a sickness that attaches
used my puberty to take advantage
and I was far too young to understand
that your golden offer was a cruel scam.
How dare you stick yourself to me
even when my brain is asleep?
How dare you attack those I love
as if my entire psyche wasn’t enough?
And even though I’m so damn exhausted
by the nemesis in my subconscious
I’ve finally found my grace and solace
knowing I can manipulate you as an artist.

– Valerie Parente (6-13-2021)

Catharsis

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Catharsis by Valerie Parente

When she asked “How do you deal with the toxicity of the public?”
I said “Write, write, write,
channel all your frustration in creation,
create, create, create,
channel all your energy into artistic placement,
paint words into memorable phrases,
find meaning in the oddest places,
make a collection of your lessons,
help the lost find their blessings,
the hardship will always get better,
and the wisdom goes on forever,
find your catharsis and give it away,
translate the world that lives in your brain,
be the God you want God to be,
and then you will find your peace.”

– Valerie Parente (6-7-2021)

Obsidian Dagger

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Obsidian Dagger by Valerie Parente

If you think about messing with her
think again,
she’s got this obsidian dagger
in her right hand,
ready to cut you up
into a celestial blend,
fall out of touch
you’ll get the glossy edge,
a ritual of writing
ready to commence,
her way of fighting
a black glass weapon,
make no mistake
it’s all self defense
for this ebony blade
she’ll never lament,
she takes a phrase
like a witch in a garden,
praising mental states
for the efflorescence,
dare you take her art
under a false pretense,
she’ll slice you apart
then wish you the best,
’cause she comes from stardust
the same place you’ve been,
but a language monarch
can bring you back to heaven,
she’s only just begun
so due and diligent,
with that silver on her tongue
and a dagger of obsidian.


– Valerie Parente (5-22-2021)

Value In Pain

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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)

Moonchild Manifesto

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Moonchild Manifesto by Valerie Parente

You are a Moonchild.
You embody moods like phases in orbital rotations.
Every moving body comes in cycles
around a world you set your mind to.
That’s when the words begin to flow
like the tides under your gravitational pull.
You fall and you feel and you break,
wondering how others could be so unfazed.
Because you are in love night and day
while the rest are just lost in space.

– Valerie Parente (2-23-2021)

Graffiti

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Graffiti by Valerie Parente

Like a graffiti artist
envisioning a new canvas
I saw the writing on the wall
and I was terrified me from the start.
Even though I love to paint my pain
I had never been more afraid
because I knew that space will never be pure again
I got something beautiful at a monumental expense.

– Valerie Parente (3-10-2021)

These Laurels Were Not Meant To Rest

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These Laurels Were Not Meant To Rest by Valerie Parente

Imagine, imagine, imagine.
When the world is mundane
I give it my passion
another artistic era
to rise from the ashes.

Create, create, create.
People say I should be satisfied
but I need to formulate
an endless stream of words
from this mental landscape.

Another rhyme, another day,
another opportunity for artistic display.
These laurels were not meant to rest,
in this garden I’ll always progress,
so ever-evolving, so evergreen,
like the creativity that lives within me.

– Valerie Parente (2-26-2021)

Art Without Fame

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Art Without Fame by Valerie Parente

Artistic displays without God-like fame gets you weird looks.
Promiscuous fashion without hollow passion gets you unsold books.
Poetic mindsets without a publisher’s subtext gets you ridiculed.
Free expression without others’ discretion gets you verbal abuse.
Because it’s okay to feel hurt
as long as you have a following
and it’s okay to create stories
as long as you’re not being honest,
but the moment you draw from your real life
without the public’s hype
that’s when they call you the bad guy;
Because art without fame is just the diary of a lunatic.
Love without a mate gets you deemed the psycho chick.
And this is not a complaint, just a reminder that I’m aware of it.
So bid me your hate, I’m already immune to it.

I’ve learned to accept that when you merge intellect with fishnets as a way to project an explicit mindset and mental health awareness you’ll get teased by the rest but I’m okay with that test because I’ve overcome too much stress against the odds of my illness to still give a fraction of a shit.

– Valerie Parente (1-12-2021)

An Artist’s Prerogative

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An Artist’s Prerogative by Valerie Parente

If I’m prude
in today’s mood
then that can creep
in my pen’s muse.
But it’s also my prerogative
if I want to be provocative
and I shouldn’t have to explain
just the same.
Call it vanity,
call it obscene,
call it everything you want it to be,
because you say what should be forbidden fruit
based on the very impulses you don’t give in to.
And an artist does not need to coincide
with the expressions you try to hide
and I’ll be damned if I start
to censor myself in my art.

Call it explicit,
call it raw,
call it everything I foresaw.
I tried to come up with a million reasons,
an answer to every single grievance
but I realized
in my confines
that I shouldn’t have to justify
how I display what’s on my mind.
It’s my job to evoke a feeling,
that part of you begging for healing,
and if uneasiness comes into play
then those qualms were never meant to stay.
We elicit what we need
to evolve into a higher breed
and artistic expression is that key
making censorship its enemy.

– Valerie Parente (12-27-2020)