Wind Chimes

November 16, 2025November 23, 2025Leave a comment

Wind Chimes by Valerie Parente

Out of thin air
you seem to vanish
but that is only true
on a visual canvas.

You still ring in my ears
even though I can’t see you
like the wind that strikes wind chimes
and the sound is the only proof.

You blow me away
with the little signs you show
I can’t see you per se
but I can see how you affect the surroundings I know.

The wind is real
even though you can’t see it
pain is real
even though you can’t see it
love is real
even though you can’t see it
if heaven is real
it doesn’t matter if you believe it
maybe you’re still by my side
even though I can’t see you with my eyes
an energy coursing through time
like the wind to wind chimes.

– Valerie Parente (11-2-2025)

Immaculate

June 16, 2024June 21, 2024Leave a comment

Immaculate by Valerie Parente

At the beginning God said,
“Let there be light”
but Luna was born
on a pitch black midnight.

So she grew up and lectured God,
“I don’t know who you think you are,
but I see so much cruelty around me;
the world is nothing but dark.”

And God looked at her and laughed,
“Sweet girl, you’ve got it all wrong,
you can see these things around you
because you are that light amongst it all.”

So she made it her mission in life
to spread light into the atmosphere,
and nobody knew where she came from
but they knew she was meant to be here.

– Valerie Parente (6-16-2024)

Devotion

February 11, 2024February 13, 2024Leave a comment

Devotion by Valerie Parente

What’s meant for you
is always on your side
even if
it’s out of sight.

After all,
the moon hides
from the world
half of the time.

– Valerie Parente (2-11-2024)

I think God is an artist…

May 29, 2021June 25, 2021Leave a comment

I think God is an artist… by Valerie Parente

More and more each day
I realize that mental illness is poetic.
So many ironies,
so many metaphors,
I think God is an artist…
I’m afraid of what I already am
and that brought me to my knees,
how the mind is like a nesting doll
mirroring the larger reality.
The more lessons I learn
the more I’m able to recognize
the sense of humor
in God’s artistic mind…
it’s kind of sick,
it’s kind of beautiful,
it’s so poetic,
like my own soul…
and maybe that’s the truth
that your maker is no more than you
that your very identity
is one with the God that sees it through.

– Valerie Parente (5-29-2021)

Credence

March 28, 2021Leave a comment

Credence by Valerie Parente

What matters to you
when nobody else matters?
What do you believe in
when nobody believes in anything?
When someone tells you
there are no such things as deities
why do you feel inclined
to speak to a higher being?

– Valerie Parente (3-28-2021)

Real To Me

July 12, 2020July 12, 2020Leave a comment

Commentary on Rather Be Haunted.

Real To Me by Valerie Parente

How miraculous it is when you’re realizing
that there is a mirror between the universe and your psyche.
I saw a ghost and I thought it was real,
I had a connection with a boy that I thought was real
and whether it was real on the outside or just make-believe
this haunted experience had a real impact on me
so to come up with the title without even thinking
about how that metaphor mirrored my psychological making
became another “a-ha” moment where I knew God was with me
and without a doubt I know He was partaking in my journey.
These synchronicities don’t happen every now and then
they happen all the time, it’s just a matter of recognizing them.

– Valerie Parente (7-12-2020)

Valerie’s Thesis

April 16, 2020April 16, 2020Leave a comment

Valerie’s Thesis by Valerie Parente

If there’s one goal in my social life it’s to enchant another person’s mind
The perfect interaction is a transaction where I teach you and you teach me
Just promise you’ll teach me without being preachy
because I thrive on being enlightened and I die when you condescend
so help me understand the world outside and I’ll translate the art sitting in your psyche.

Nothing bothers me more than when someone thinks I’m just a dumb girl
because inside my mind is a large web of things that make me obsessed
and I know that comes across like I can’t find my thoughts.
The truth is I just struggle with my words when I have to speak them into the world
but give me paper and a pen to write and I promise I’ll blow your mind.

I know it sounds pretentious but if I’m being perfectly honest
I’d rather you read what I write than see my picture and click “like”
Yes I still have an aesthetic but that’s just the visual poetry of my intellect
If I have to post my face to get your attention and enter the conversation
then I’ll gladly pose in place only to switch your direction to mental reflection.

I believe our minds are a never-ending storm given a body in this crazy world
that God gave us physical anatomy as our way of making sense of mentality
The pain that comes with having an ego serves to recognize the other in a collective soul
So you better be damn sure that if I find another mind that can discuss this even one time
then I’m going to hold onto that conversation like it’s my most valuable human connection.

– Valerie Parente (4-16-2020)

Matryoshka Dolls

January 21, 2020January 21, 2020Leave a comment

Matryoshka Dolls by Valerie Parente

I am an artist.
I was born to create.
I was created, to create.

We are infinite stories within stories.
Entire populations,
Entire worlds,
nested in mind after mind after mind after mind…

– Valerie Parente (1-21-2020)

My Prayers

September 12, 2019September 12, 2019Leave a comment

My Prayers by Valerie Parente

Somebody pray for me

I worship through art
written word is my prayer
it is my recorded conversations with God
the art I make through my maker
and I am in love and in awe
of the world inside the creator
because the mental has spawned
when I transcribe to paper.

– Valerie Parente (9-12-2019)