Haunted, Not Want It

August 19, 2022August 19, 2022Leave a comment

Haunted, Not Want It by Valerie Parente

It’s not that I’m not over it,
it’s that I never got closure from it.
It’s not that I want what I almost had,
it’s that I’m haunted by the way it passed.
It’s never my intention to turn around,
I just wanna make the old me proud…

When it’s hard to tell the difference
between what you want
and what continues to haunt
I ask myself, am I the host or the witness
of a truth in my heart
or an obsessive thought?

The answer is always the same:
when I was half this age
I wanted exactly what I have in this day,
this longing is an addiction so dishonest
a state of mind of the haunted
and it can be debunked in this way:
having gratitude for today.

– Valerie Parente (8-19-2022)

Lady Luna and the Haunted

May 24, 2021June 25, 2021Leave a comment

Lady Luna and The Haunted by Valerie Parente

Eventually Lady Luna realized
that the ones most haunted
are the ghosts themselves
because those entities embody
the very thing we have in common
a soul suspending from the wanting
a better life from the past onward
and Lady Luna’s epiphany started
when she felt the collective conscience
it said, “pain is just an option
a pattern we fall into, far too often
because time dictates losses
but acceptance is the calling
that heals all who have fallen”.

What is
has always been,
what isn’t
is only an influence
on the attitude you choose to invest in
not the reality your soul is within.

– Valerie Parente (5-24-2021)

Ghostly

April 12, 2021Leave a comment

Ghostly by Valerie Parente

She was dead 10 months ago,
free to roam on her own,
she could go anywhere… anywhere at all,
except the place that she belonged.

It was a kind of art, being haunted,
and to be the one doing the haunting,
she mastered it ever so well,
translating and transferring her hell.

Nearly a year passed, and the day came,
where she was resurrected from her pain,
it didn’t happen because people believed,
it happened because she finished her grief.

She is still ghostly under the moon,
and that should be a warning to you,
you can never scare her with death threats,
because she already knows what it’s like to be dead.

– Valerie Parente (4-12-2021)

You Look Like You’ve Seen A Ghost

March 15, 2021March 15, 2021Leave a comment

You Look Like You’ve Seen A Ghost by Valerie Parente

It’s very surreal
when the thing that haunted you for 10 months
is confirmed to be real.

It’s very relieving
when the thing that made you question your sanity
was worth believing.

It’s very humbling
when the thing you swore you knew beyond a doubt
was not for nothing.

It’s very comforting
when the hurt and the heal and the hope you achieved
has a little company.

– Valerie Parente (3-15-2021)

Rather Be Haunted (VIDEO)

July 13, 2020July 13, 2020Leave a comment

Theme of Rather Be Haunted & Explanation behind Title

– Valerie Parente (7-13-2020)

Rather Be Haunted (A Poetry & Prose Collection) OUT NOW

June 28, 2020June 28, 20202 Comments

Purchase Here on Amazon!

Love. Heartache. Death.
Rather Be Haunted documents a dark period for the poet. Emotions linger like ghosts. Interpersonal relations cause palpable frustration. Death breaks the heart but in the most beautiful way.

Through chronological poetry and prose you can feel all that haunts the obsessive compulsive writer’s psyche as she tries to understand her hyper-sensitivities through rhymes and clever lines. As frustration builds, so does resilience, making the struggles that define our humanity all the more remarkable. After all, isn’t the struggle to make sense of emotions the grandest mark of being alive? What makes us human hurts; that is the gift of the universe.

Rather Be Haunted is the second volume of poetry & prose by Valerie Parente, featuring Mannequin Art alongside writing pieces. You can now own the collection in Paperback or Kindle!

Rather Be Haunted

February 25, 2020February 25, 2020Leave a comment

Rather Be Haunted by Valerie Parente

Emotions haunt me like ghosts
manipulating the energy inside of me
drawing from what I want the most
because my intensity sets the ghosts free.

The more meaning in my interactions
the more meaning in my poetry
because these interpersonal relations
have me evolving spiritually.

I used to identify as the tortured artist
but now I identify as a human being
creating words so painfully honest
Hurt, feel, heal, then repeat.

The pain never starts out pretty
but the ghosts give me an artistic opportunity
in turn I give them the satisfaction of being seen
while I turn those emotions into a masterpiece.

It isn’t easy learning through ghosts
but if its between getting what I wanted
and the force of emotional growth
then I would rather be haunted.

Haunted