“Is it true?”
“Is what true?”
“… That time heals the pain?”
“Yes, as time goes by you will smile at their memory instead of cry.”
“Is that because you start to forget about them?”
“No. You do not forget- you remember. You remember all those times together instead of that one moment you lost them.”
– Valerie Parente (1-6-2023)
Give Yourself Time… to Cherish the Given Time by Valerie Parente
Time really does heal the heart,
you can’t see it at the start
but someday those many moments of having them
will outweigh the one moment you lost them.
– Valerie Parente (6-17-2022)
Features “Sitting on Skulls and Bones”
and “Not Bionic”
from Moonchild Manifesto on Amazon.com
The Key To Happy by Valerie Parente
I didn’t get better because I got to love you
I got to love you because I got better.
I didn’t heal for you
I healed for me
and that is why
I am finally free
to truly enjoy
another being
without depending
on them for healing.
This is the honest truth
this is the real key
accept yourself
then enjoy company.
– Valerie Parente (7-6-2021)
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.
Antidote by Valerie Parente
There was a lot of angst and frustration
but the antidote to that bitterness
was to be exposed in all my distress
that’s why I documented it
knowing one day you would notice
and I didn’t care if you agreed
I just cared about being seen.
– Valerie Parente (5-26-2021)
Erudite by Valerie Parente
I went to hell and back,
studying my mental turmoil,
started as a kid with a task,
to get attention from the whole world.
When you’re a confused teen,
you feel so damn invisible,
then one special boy sees,
that’s when life got difficult.
I was always obsessive in nature,
and my imagination was a priority,
a perfectionist that was insecure,
so I excessively daydreamed.
I had talent back then,
but I didn’t use it for good,
I delved in sickness instead,
when one boy no longer looked.
Ten years gone, ten years dismissing,
that’s what the anorexia did,
ten years studying, ten years witnessing,
all the trauma adolescence inflicted.
It was circumstantial and biochemical,
and now I finally understand,
if there was any hope for normal,
I sure as hell didn’t stand a chance.
Now I’m a young woman with a pen,
and I’ve examined my psyche well,
as an expert on where I’ve been,
I make art in the name of mental health.
Believe it or not,
I wouldn’t change any single thing,
all the anguish I fought,
it helped me see another dimension.
There’s compassion in the stories I write,
there’s understanding behind each phrase,
there’s a past that helps me empathize,
there’s a purpose that will never go away.
I no longer think in terms of “me”,
I see your conscience and its fight,
my every move doesn’t need to be seen,
but I’ll shed light if it helps your life.
This is our world to better,
we are the children of the moon,
using psychology we study together,
out of the lunacy we’ve been through.
I’m going to nurture someone, someday,
in a cycle I finally want to be part of,
and that sentient bundle can embrace,
a worldview where mental health is honored.
– Valerie Parente (5-22-2021)
Blue to Green by Valerie Parente
From blue to green,
a pool of tears
feed the tree
just like the pain
that lived in me,
the key to life
in my bloodstream,
the blood on my skin,
always life’s key,
lying in the grass
not lost at sea,
you hurt then you learn,
a gradient to green.
Now green, from blue,
once so sad
but then I grew
because heartache
changes you
in the color
of a bruise
and I can’t heal
without the proof
so writing it out
was how I moved
across the spectrum
now green, from blue.
– Valerie Parente (5-21-2021)
Horns by Valerie Parente
I used to wear a halo,
now I wear horns,
it wasn’t my intention,
until I was scorned,
leaving the garden,
where roses have thorns,
and I didn’t come out,
unscathed from the storm,
when the sky cleared,
I was weathered and worn,
and the horns began to sprout,
from the temples I adorned.
It wasn’t immediate,
it came from hindsight,
for ten months I went,
trying to rationalize,
dissecting where and how,
I could be the bad guy,
then the news broke,
that I was in the right,
but I still wear these horns,
they comfort me at night,
’cause I can be the demon,
instead of a damsel in demise.
The townsfolk are skeptical,
for whom I vouch for,
I understand the fright,
but I’m better than before,
the uncertainty is gone,
I am no longer unsure,
there is no insecurity,
I am no longer unmoored,
if he hurts me again,
it will hurt him a hell of a lot more,
the worst already came for me,
but then I grew these horns.
– Valerie Parente (3-29-2021)
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