The Singularity, The Soul

The Singularity, The Soul by Valerie Parente

When the darkness comes for you
don’t fear being seduced
because the dark loves you, darling
and you are its muse too.

This black hole is enamored by you
a singularity that pulls you in
if it were simply nothing
you wouldn’t feel the attraction.

No, it’s not a void
or in what you lack
it’s a concentration
it’s a black mass.

You feel it in your chest
sucking your energy
past the event horizon
into a bank of memory.

This singularity, they say
compresses all of you infinitely
yet its volume does not exist
well that sounds like a soul, if you ask me.

Don’t you dare compare the black hole to depression
which is ambivalent and unfazed
it contains more emotion than you could imagine
the density of the soul and the darkness are one and the same.

– Valerie Parente (9-14-2025)

Little Nightling That Dwells

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.

– Valerie Parente (7-9-2025)

Night Terrors

Night Terrors by Valerie Parente

You only feel afraid
in the nighttime
when the darkness spreads
across your eyes
but you may be mistaken
in your nightly fright
because without this contrast
you would not recognize the light.

The stars
the moon
the planets
the sky.
Rest assured
that you can rest tonight.
You should be anything
but terrified.

– Valerie Parente (6-26-2025)

Dear Darkling

Dear Darkling by Valerie Parente

You are the symbol of pain becoming beauty
featherless wings
hope withstanding mood swings
sprouting from a spine
where stance is a nuisance
so you arch your back
like the moon and its exuberance
and though you come from the aether
your experience is human;
so fear not, dear darkling
you have become the blueprint
of finding beauty in darkness
now the teacher, once the student.

As above, you knew your worth
so below, you went and proved it.

– Valerie Parente (10-26-2024)

If Only My Thoughts Could Fly Away

If Only My Thoughts Could Fly Away by Valerie Parente

Crossed my legs and started to pray
that my thoughts could just fly away
but they’re delicate, so I confined them
inside a cage of the like-minded.

These thoughts have a life of their own
beautiful ravens that don’t know where to go
I tell them, “It’s okay, go with peace”
but they don’t know who they are without me.

The feelings are mutual between the thinker and the thoughts
but maybe it’s time to align with an outside cause…
so to those darklings with feathered wings
I bid you farewell from your upbringing.

– Valerie Parente (1-7-2024)

Ravenheart: These Veins Are Not In Vain (A Fantasy Chronicle)

Ravenheart:
These Veins Are Not In Vain (A Fantasy Chronicle)
by Valerie Parente

The veins on her hands
like trees with no leaves
black and branching out
along her anatomy.

That ravenheart pumped,
her sanctum of midnight,
filtering the darkness
in the dead of the night.

It only hurts a little
to be made of this blood
she got used to the pain
and the love it’s made of.

She looks to her veins
and knows they’re not in vain
because with these hands
she learned to create.

Since her birth in the thunder
she whispered before her slumber
a promise the shadows bid unto her
these words of ancient scripture,
“Take this black hole
and make it whole
feed that world
no others know.
Use great stress
to create great depth
and with this alchemy
you destroy fear of death.”

– Valerie Parente (6-9-2023)

Starry Eyed

Starry Eyed by Valerie Parente

Stardust on my eyes
pretend I am surprised
by the darkness of the night
when you know damn well I’m starry eyed.

I would never see
the constellations and their beauty
without the contrast of the night
black like the pupils in my eyes.

Rejoice my friend
this is all our eyes’ reflection
light and dark are the same principle
and from here on out you are invincible.

– Valerie Parente (7-30-2022)

The Seven Swords

The Seven Swords (A Fantasy Chronicle) by Valerie Parente

He was an elven warrior,
wielding a mighty sword,
an Excalibur that glowed,
in dire times of war.

There were six other swords,
each emanating a vibrant hue,
violet, indigo, green, yellow,
orange, scarlet, and his was blue.

This elf belonged to the clouds,
his people charged the stars,
on a stratosphere of temples,
each lighting up the dark.

Sky-born elves were peaceful,
up until a decade ago,
when archangels from underground,
took the stars as their own.

Ever since that catastrophic heist,
the world was never the same,
all creatures lived in the dark,
using torches to illuminate.

That’s when the seven swords
broke their hibernation,
their glow was the key,
to defeating hell’s nation.

The blue sword resided in a raincloud,
violet was stored on the lilac beach,
indigo hid away in the catacombs,
green perched in the forts of trees,
yellow in the sunlight chapel,
orange in the nymph observatory,
and scarlet in the wicked forest,
that guarded hell from enemies.

All seven swords were retrieved,
by different breeds of man,
elves, witches, trolls, and more,
each ready to take a stand.

Every retrieval was its own tale,
but that is for another day,
today we discuss the battle,
that took place at hell’s gates.

The archangels fought hard,
to keep the world in the dark,
but the seven swords fought harder,
to find the light that was lost.

For seven days and seven nights,
the battleground was on fire,
and sword after sword,
illuminated like a lighter.

The archangels were defeated,
by the myriad of colors,
and every time one deceased,
they exploded like no other.

A rainbow of brilliant rays,
shot up like a beam to the sky,
and each archangel carcass,
became a new kind of starlight.

Ever since that fateful day,
the blue sword became a symbol,
absorbing the light in the sky,
that once belonged to the dismal.

We learn from the seven swords,
that sometimes the darkest minds,
just need a little spark,
to surrender to the bright side.

– Valerie Parente (4-16-2021)