Sunlight Chapel (A Fantasy Chronicle)

The Sunlight Chapel (A Fantasy Chronicle)

The sunlight chapel
was filled with treasures
that mankind cannot
begin to measure.
You will see Sol priestesses
when you enter,
and you will be greeted
by floating embers
suspended between breaths
of the chapel’s dwellers
wearing golden dresses
and crowns of amber feathers.
These priestesses will teach you
for they’re oh so clever
harnessing wisdom from light
they’re energy is tethered
to the mighty sun
no matter the weather.

The world is full of pain
and the night will always test
the darkness of the sky
like a hole inside your chest
but the Sol priestesses know
this wisdom above the rest,
At the end of the day
you can go to bed a mess
but come the morning light
your mindset must reset.

Every morning the sun rises
is a morning you are blessed.
Every morning arrises
and you are its witness;
the sunlight lives in you
and don’t you dare forget.

– Valerie Parente (9-15-2023)

Ravenheart: Believe In Me (A Fantasy Chronicle)

Believe In Me (A Fantasy Chronicle) by Valerie Parente

Illihana grabbed his collar
and begged him in her grief,
“Believe me when I say
don’t believe in me.
I cannot be the girl
that you need me to be.
With this black hole in my chest
and my heart on my sleeve
it’s only a matter of time
before I collapse to gravity.”
But there was nothing she could say
to convince Sir Dovetail to admit defeat
because when he looked in her eyes
a glimmer of light was all he could see.

– Valerie Parente (3-14-2023)

The Undead Mermaids (A Fantasy Chronicle)

The Undead Mermaids by Valerie Parente

Little girl skipping pebble stones
in the bay behind her little home
mother told her not to go
but to that little lake she strolled.

She played a dangerous game
with creepy mermaids her age
they said “dip your toes in the lake”
beneath the water lily maze.

Little girl offered one tiny inch
that’s when she got sucked in
groped and bitten
by those devious sirens.

Then took place the wicked spell
the undead mermaid hell
little girl turned into one of them
luring other girls to that realm.

Prominent were their ribs
with hair that became thin
so emaciated and addicted
to rotting in their grey skin.

Once choice is all it takes
a little curiosity in your brain
to turn you into a slave
recruiting more undead mermaids.

– Valerie Parente (4-23-2022)

Ravenheart (A Fantasy Chronicle)

Ravenheart (A Fantasy Chronicle) by Valerie Parente

Illihana was born with a Ravenheart
a sanctum dark as midnight
so debilitating in its comfort
making a cozy life from her demise.
Each vein black and branching out
scaring off every knight
like spiderwebs on her skin
or cracks on a doll so pallid white.
This blackness, it infected it all
every touch, every thought in her mind
she couldn’t control its presence
so she hid during the daylight.
She made a home with her ravenheart
grooming pride instead of spite
isolated from the fear she drew near
and in men’s fear she started to thrive
emboldened by the way her beauty
was so personal and precise
something too scary during the day
and too camoflouged to touch at night.
The grit, the grime, the gore
was never worth a common man’s fight.
But Sir Dovetail was no common man
he was so resilient in all his light.
The prince spoke to her in the pitch black
getting to know her dark side
and he didn’t care to run away
even when she cried.
The love was glorious, the love was grand
the love made her start to realize
that isolation that once consoled her
no longer felt like a source of pride.
When she had to leave her prince before dawn
she wished she could leave the ravenheart behind.
She could accept the darkness for her sake
the way its wrath made her writhe
but what she could not come to accept
was the way it impaired his life.
Though never once did he express distress
never once did he resent her strife
but she knew that deep down
he missed having her in sunlight.
Illihana emerged from her cave
with dark veins in plain sight
and as the townspeople stared
so did Dovetail in delight.
When he finally saw her blackened heart
he couldn’t help but notice her beautiful eyes
so big and bold and brave
and oh he loved how they shined.

– Valerie Parente (2-11-2022)

Beg A Question – The Royal Harpy & The Lunar Druid (A Fantasy Chronicle)

Beg A Question – The Royal Harpy & The Lunar Druid (A Fantasy Chronicle) by Valerie Parente

The royal harpy’s sickness
has always been her muse
and that’s precisely why this princess
couldn’t differentiate from the two.

On a night of pure stillness
she captured the druid of the moon
she took him as her witness
and begged him for the truth.

“Surely it’s your business,
and I will not be made a fool,
tell me, am I my condition
or is my condition just a ruse?”

The lunar druid was oddly smitten
remembering all the princess had been through
a young harpy tormented by children
so he posed a question too.

“Did they bully you for your condition?
Or was this your condition because they bullied you?”
“I’m not sure I know the difference,”
the princess whispered so confused.

That druid of the moon simply listened
as he heard all he needed to
and as his emerald eyes glistened
he whispered, “That is your proof.”

– Valerie Parente (7-30-2021)

Moonchild Manifesto SUMMARY

NEW BOOK HERE

Have you been enjoying my poetry? I love to post my work on valerieparente.com to act as a free library for my writing and art. That being said, if you would like a HARD COPY of my latest work (200+ poetry and prose pieces) you can support me by purchasing Moonchild Manifesto: A Poetry & Prose Collection on Amazon.com. (LINK HERE) Coping with the trauma that arises when you have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder during a pandemic and heartbreak and also dealing with the leftover trauma from OCD and anorexia growing up are major themes in Moonchild Manifesto. There is a progression throughout the collection that begins with recognizing pain and heartbreak, transforms into reflection and how your mind could ever get to such a traumatized and obsessive point, and graduates into hopefulness through fantastical allegory-poem hybrids and personal poetic affirmations. Along with stomping out mental health stigma this collection has undertones of feminism, free speech activism, spirituality, and commentary on living through a pandemic. This is easily my favorite project thus far and I would love to share it with the world.

If you liked any of the following pieces on my website you will love them in a full collection that follows a trajectory from The Hurt, The Heal, into The Hope. Some fan favorite poems in Moonchild Manifesto are:

  • Let Go
  • Fishnets
  • The Moon & The Third Eye
  • Venus Fly Trap
  • Like My Dolls
  • These Laurels Were Not Meant To Rest
  • The One That Got Away
  • Your Wardrobe
  • Change, So Bittersweet
  • Why?
  • The Picures I Paint
  • You Look Like You’ve Seen A Ghost
  • In The Jungle
  • Pamper Yourself
  • The Spider Princess
  • Wind Up Toy

– Valerie Parente (7-5-2021)

Moonchild Manifesto: A Poetry & Prose Collection by Valerie Parente AVAILABLE NOW

AVAILABLE HERE

Moonchild Manifesto by Valerie Parente is a body of work that documents the parallel between two acts: feeling a profound connection and making it your whole mood, and taking a topic and making it your artistic muse. There is a similarity between poetry and the spell we call love. A Moonchild is hyper-sensitive to this similarity and understands how it is equally enchanting as it is taxing. Divided into three moon phases, this poetry and prose collection follows the subconscious trajectory of The Hurt, The Heal, and The Hope.

Valerie Parente’s third poetry and prose collection manifested out of what she does best, mixing psychology, spirituality, and fantasy to make sense of her mental experiences as both a human being with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and a whimsically dark artist.

The Harpy At Curtain Call (A Fantasy Chronicle)

The Harpy At Curtain Call (A Fantasy Chronicle) by Valerie Parente

She’s got violet wings
claws for scratching
getting under your skin
with her keen language
a harpy at curtail call
a village so appalled
jet black eyes in a stupor
no irises, all pupils
absorbing all of the light
scanning the horizon for flight
so formidable to the townsfolk
like the creeper when exposed
and right before she takes off
she prays to the dawn
because she has so much fear
when the night inches near
because it’s easier to see the horizon
when the light is there for guiding
and she has so much faith
at the beginning of the day.

– Valerie Parente (6-13-2021)