Warrior Princess

April 13, 2025April 16, 2025Leave a comment

Warrior Princess by Valerie Parente

Why be a damsel in distress
when you can be a warrior princess?
Be your own champion
instead of just waiting.
Get up and take action
and feel a new kind of passion
that does not heat or cool
on the whim of a man’s mood.

If you’re proud and poised
dictated by your own choice
they say you’re a tramp
because you don’t belong to a man
so screw being appraised
by your last, not first name.
You are entitled when provoked,
swing the sword on your own!

You are not to apologize
to settle or compromise
for the system thrust forth
the moment you were born.
You were always a warrior deep down
that’s why they created a crown
to distract you with a wish
to be a trophy to those you kiss.

It may sound crazy
but in this world it’s an act of bravery
to dare to feel beautiful
without a man’s approval.
You are a warrior princess
exquisite just because you exist
as you, your own being
despite what fairytales were preaching.

– Valerie Parente (4-13-2025)

Medusa Had It Right

March 8, 2025March 8, 2025Leave a comment

Medusa Had It Right by Valerie Parente

Medusa had it right
when she turned that man to stone.
Female wrath doesn’t just happen
it gets provoked.
If you dare look at her
when she does not condone
don’t act surprised
by the rage she holds
because the male gaze
only benefits one role
and it’s not the women
it pretends to boast.

– Valerie Parente (3-7-2025)

Censor/Exploit/Repeat

March 7, 2025March 29, 20251 Comment

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)

Goddess

September 28, 2024September 28, 2024Leave a comment

Goddess by Valerie Parente

We call it the will of God
though women bear that cross
for it is them who represent
the concept of consequence
and if the world was honest
we’d say it came from a Goddess.
Therein lies, a tale as old as time;
how it is man who crucifies
the ones who wholeheartedly know
the magnificent power that they hold.

– Valerie Parente (9-28-2024)

Danger to Society

May 21, 2024May 22, 2024Leave a comment

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)

Rude Awakening

May 3, 2024May 4, 2024Leave a comment

Rude Awakening by Valerie Parente

I should have known you were a total creep
when you declared “you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me”
and we had only been talking for one day that week
when you tried to parade around my anatomy.

Truthfully, I knew something was awry
though I told myself I’m just not used to nice guys
but nice isn’t profuse compliments one, two, twenty times
nice is giving a girl a chance to make up her own mind.

There is such profound violation
in having my time knowingly wasted
and I am far from complacent
to your attempts at emotional manipulation.

Damn right, I take it personally
that you had the nerve to try to corner me
but it took five seconds for me to formally
recognize you only act on insecurity.

My gut told me you were too good to be true
and at the time I didn’t want to be shrewd
but I hope your awakening is quite rude
because I don’t take kindly to being fooled.

This was a very rude awakening of mine;
a lesson that you can’t manifest a “dream guy”
because dreams are meant for closed eyes
and a girl needs to be awake at all times.

– Valerie Parente (5-3-2024)

Succubus

October 6, 2023March 1, 2024Leave a comment

Succubus by Valerie Parente

Milky eyes rolled
in the back of her head
they accuse the succubus
of stealing dreams from the men.

She’s only as good
as when they want to be around her
as if her morality
is tied to their arousal.

He can touch her
but she can’t touch him
just like she can lose her value
but he can only win.

Her pleasure, her lust,
a malevolence in itself
while he’s in high heaven
she’s going straight to hell.

They call her a succubus
because she likes to be exposed
that’s why they justify
putting a knife to her throat.

But they don’t know
she’ll stroke the knife with her tongue
because she taught herself
to like the taste of blood.

Her

May 21, 2023May 22, 2023Leave a comment

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)