Let Your Hair Down by Valerie Parente
If there is such a world
that buries women in the ground
for letting their hair down
let my sisters see the light of day
when a tornado comes their way.
As they feel the movement in the air
tell my sisters, don’t be scared
that rush is just the feeling
of the wind in your hair.
– Valerie Parente (3-3-2026)
I Was Born With Horns by Valerie Parente
How dare you condemn my anatomy
when I was born with horns
it’s in my nature to have free will
what is mine is not yours.
How dare you make a mockery of me
when autonomy came with my birth
it’s in my DNA to choose how I live
what is personal is not discourse.
I decide what is right or wrong
for this body I’ve been squeezed into
that is not up for debate
if that makes me deviant
then innocence never existed in the first place.
– Valerie Parente (2-14-2026)
Bite Me! by Valerie Parente
Tell me to shut up
close my mouth
as you bare your teeth,
you chew me up
then spit me out
as you please,
so tell me why you get so offended
when I say “Bite Me!”
It’s almost as if you’re not offended by the content of my words
but the fact that I had the audacity to dictate what happens to my body first.
– Valerie Parente (12-20-2025)
A Siren’s Threat by Valerie Parente
If I were a siren
I’d kill men too
lure them to the fishnets
they forced me into.
We are more than the sex
to which we have been reduced
may we serenade men to death
for all the times they’ve been cruel
because mother nature’s silhouette
is in the shape of a typhoon
and when they get shipwrecked
they won’t feel our grooves
only the ocean’s depths
under the pull of the moon
and this world would be no less
if anything, improved.
– Valerie Parente (11-29-2025)
The Damsel & The Demon
by Valerie Parente
There once was a Damsel named Daphne
and when she was just a girl
she started having intrusive thoughts
that drew her to the underworld.
There stood the kingdom of Nefaria
ruled by a soul sucking Demon
he preyed on the vulnerable
by giving them something to believe in.
With the incessant rhymes in her head
the Damsel turned to the Demon for relief
tolerating and even aiding
the damned souls he heartlessly reaped.
But in a moment of profound strength
Daphne had a change of heart
she felt the fire in her own soul,
all it took was one spark.
From that day began a journey
where her codependence would be unlearned
finding a power within herself
Daphne would be the Damsel no more.
Censor/Exploit/Repeat by Valerie Parente
Censor her
for her femininity
like it makes sense to be
offended by another’s anatomy
unless there’s something
a little monetary
that can be derived
from her liberty
‘cause if it’s just for her
she can’t do it for free
but if it’s for the rest
now she’s a commodity
just another product
of a voyeuristic society
wanting to strip choice
from the ones with the bodies
that we exploit
then ask for modesty.
It’s all so
arbitrary
dictated by when men do and don’t
want to see
confidence
or insecurity
and therein lies
the ultimate absurdity
one day censoring, one one day profiting from
female agency.
– Valerie Parente (3-7-2025)
Free In My Own Skin by Valerie Parente
If there were no men I’d be naked all of the time.
If there was no threat I’d be making my own highs.
If there was no sex I’d be vacant in my mind.
And I am compelled to be a sin in their eyes.
I don’t do provocative for them, I do it for me
because being feminine makes me feel free
and the fact that that’s a danger to society
is nothing short of chauvinism at its peak.
– Valerie Parente (7-11-2024)
Danger to Society by Valerie Parente
They say that my anatomy
is a danger to society
when it comes to expressing
all that’s inside of me.
Yet I’m not too dangerous
for you to profit off of it
for you to get off with it
do whatever you want with it
but I need to be cautious with it.
You censor my canvas
and give yourself the advantage
with arbitrary rules and guidelines
while I’m just collateral damage.
But if you ask me
you’re the real danger to society
because you take what isn’t yours
then make it my responsibility.
– Valerie Parente (5-15-2024)
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