Her by Valerie Parente
You never knew her
You knew of her
And the way
She played with fire
Just like every
Woman prior
Who learned the hard way
To be the wiser
Against the system
That would conspire
To dim the light
From her lighter.
A scarlet red
She is a fighter
Among the flames
She has grown brighter.
– Valerie Parente (5-21-2023)
SALVATION (A Mask) by Valerie Parente
Saving lives
and ruining lives
are two very different things
but often the ones who promise salvation
are the ones that follow it with condemnation
and it is this very intolerance
that muddies all common sense.
They say they want to help
by creating a concept of hell
but they don’t really want to save your soul
they just want power and control.
True salvation doesn’t come from a hierarchy or rules
true salvation comes from acceptance with the truth
and the truth is there’s something within
that makes you ever so resilient.
– Valerie Parente (7-15-2022)
What Am I To You? by Valerie Parente
What am I to you
but a means to breed?
What is my anatomy to you
but a sacrifice so sweet?
What is my pain to you
but a moral victory?
What is my pleasure to you
but a sin to preach?
What is my desperation to you
but a punishment for being free?
What is my free will to you
but a political chess piece?
What is my free will to you
but something to mistreat?
What is my hope to you
but a mere dream?
What am I to you
but a lesser being?
– Valerie Parente (6-28-2022)
Blue Lips by Valerie Parente
Something about the cold
and how it makes my lips blue.
Something about the frostbite
in being so crude.
I vowed to be explicit
in everything that I do.
I vowed to be so cold
to every man that swoons.
Don’t touch me,
I’m made of ice
and you’ll be frozen too.
Don’t touch me,
it’s my demise
from the fear I have groomed.
Yes, there’s something about the cold
and how it makes my lips blue.
Well at least when I’m cold
I’m the color of you.
– Valerie Parente (1-27-2022)
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:
– Valerie Parente (7-5-2021)
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 Femme Fatale by Valerie Parente
That woman holds the serpent
doing as she pleases
and wouldn’t you like to know
that’s why they call her deviant.
They gave her scarlet horns
so she adorned them with charms
reminders of her intentions
from the moon and the stars.
That woman is in charge
that’s why they call her malevolent
she didn’t kill any man
she killed man’s dominance.
– Valerie Parente (6-15-2021)
Poisoned Apple by Valerie Parente
There was a curse upon that orchard,
stemming from each apple seed,
and when the cold came around,
an apple fell from the apple tree,
sour and rotting from the inside
when it was supposed to be sweet,
poisoned from its very core,
just like a mental disease,
they told me to give it to a man,
since they often cause the grief,
but I knew if I poisoned a man,
it was the same as poisoning me,
and on the rainiest of rainy days,
I let that apple decay in the leaves,
because hurting those who hurt you,
is an excuse for the weak,
and the earth responded so kind,
to a woman’s forgiveness and mercy,
the ground swallowed that apple,
then it swallowed another three,
and as each fruit fell to the soil,
it was healed from its malady,
altogether the orchard ripened,
and it was as good as freed,
cured by a change of thought,
that’s how we reach true equality.
– Valerie Parente (5-8-2021)
Dress Up by Valerie Parente
Kinda funny, when you dress up
that they get all hung up
because a woman can look like a woman
unless there are sums of men looking,
and if you dress like a doll
they’ll think it’s playtime when it’s not.
But last time I checked
I expect so much less
when a man looks like a man
I don’t assume he’ll hold my hand.
It’s condescending to the men
that we think less of them
like they can’t control their fantasies
when they see a woman so free
as if they don’t have the control
not to touch what’s not their own.
You can dress up, you can dress down
you can convey whatever you dream about
because it empowers every party
when you feel free with who you want to be.
– Valerie Parente (3-6-2021)
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