Many Women, Some Men

April 26, 2026April 26, 2026Leave a comment

Many Women, Some Men by Valerie Parente

Many women play dumb
as not to offend
because to anger some men
could mean her life’s end.

Many women go ghost
as not to piss off
fearing rejection
could mean her life stops.

Many women hold their keys
as a means to defend
between the knuckles
where her life depends.

Many women smile back
as a way to pretend
because if she disapproves
her life could be threatened.

Some men need an explicit signal
but when they receive that, they attack
then turn around and blame women
for putting on an act.

And the knee-jerk reaction
is to say “not all men”
but what do you call it when a small portion
affects the majority of women?

– Valerie Parente (4-24-2026)

Cathedral

April 7, 2026April 8, 2026Leave a comment

Cathedral by Valerie Parente

She worships her body
like a cathedral
a sacred space
to shelter the ego.

A corset of ribbed vaults
to emphasize her curves;
if this is no man’s state
then separate it from her church.

You made her body
into something political
but she’s not a group project
she’s an individual.

She listens to her own belief system
not the sound of a man’s sermon
knowing there’s no such thing
as a whore or a virgin.

The religion of her decisions
only needs to make sense to her
one woman’s freedom
is not another man’s curse.

– Valerie Parente (4-7-2026)

Eve

March 13, 2026March 14, 2026Leave a comment

Eve by Valerie Parente

I am every woman
who came before me.
Every moment they sacrificed
carved out a space
for my dreams.

I am every moment
a woman is believed.
Every truth they told
lays the foundation
that sets me free.

I am the truth
flawed as it may be.
Every mistake a girl makes
we feel empathy
all the way back
to our first girl, Eve.

– Valerie Parente (3-13-2026)

Let Your Hair Down

March 3, 2026March 7, 2026Leave a comment

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)

Valkyrie

February 20, 2026March 1, 2026Leave a comment

Valkyrie by Valerie Parente

They told me to find a knight in shining armor
if I wanted someone to save me
so I polished my nails
and became my own source of bravery.

They told me to dull my shine
so that I wouldn’t distract
then pretended I never had
any power to take back.

They wanted me to yield my worth
and rely on the opposite sex
so I decided to wield my sword
and damn my own distress.

They tried to make me feel small
so I wouldn’t notice
that I am a force
to be reckoned with.

– Valerie Parente (2-20-2026)

I Was Born With Horns

February 14, 2026February 22, 2026Leave a comment

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!

December 20, 2025December 21, 2025Leave a comment

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)

Pepper Spray

December 13, 2025April 18, 2026Leave a comment

Pepper Spray by Valerie Parente

Men say they’re better at tolerating the pain
so I say, hey! What’s a little pepper spray?
They can handle the weights, but can they handle the word “no”?
While we handle the weight of a man’s world on our bones.

Us women are tearing up because we’re feeling the depth,
these men are tearing up when we wreak self-defense.
I’m not saying it’s a competition, who’s the better sex
but one bleeds to create life, the other bleeds when life ends.

These men’s eyes may burn, they’re eyes may grow wet,
maybe then they’ll understand how it truly feels to be on edge,
running to our cars, gripping pepper spray for dear life
locking our doors, worrying we’ll be the next sacrifice.

– Valerie Parente (12-13-2025)

A Siren’s Threat

November 29, 2025November 30, 2025Leave a comment

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)

Bloodshed

October 4, 2025Leave a comment

Bloodshed by Valerie Parente

They say us women are the weak ones
even though every month we shed blood
created with a mechanism for self sacrifice
sometimes giving our own life to create more life.

Not every woman is allowed to do what she wants
some bleed and make life whether they like it or not
and these men only bleed when they decide
deciding to bleed as a means to end lives.

What’s with all these disenchanted young men
thinking the solution is to resort to bloodshed?
That to eliminate their own unpleasant feelings
they must cause some kind of chaos and bleeding.

Their bloodshed is perfectly preventable
a consequence to actions deemed inevitable
but it’s women’s bloodshed that was never a choice
yet our society makes a choice to teach it to boys.

Once a month every year all because of hormones
every week a violent news story because he feels alone
but make no mistake, it was never him vs. her
it’s what we decide to do with nature vs. nurture.