Played by Valerie Parente
If you’re trying to be a playmate
don’t be surprised when he plays dumb
even though he knew every single day
he played with your feelings for fun
This was always just a big game
and now its time for you to unplug.
– Valerie Parente (6-19-2020)
Forward by Valerie Parente
You don’t have to explain yourself,
the past is in the past,
it’s time to enjoy life again,
so don’t you dare look back.
When you want to regress,
just remember the fact,
that love is supposed to feel good,
it’s not a battle to be had.
You romanticized the struggle,
you let the feelings drag,
because it felt safer in this circle,
when you ran another lap.
There will be moments of doubt,
you’ll be tempted to go off-track,
but if you keep moving foward,
then you’re on the right path.
You’re not running away from problems,
you’re making a future that will last,
those old feelings were addicting,
and there’s no time to relapse.
– Valerie Parente (6-17-2020)
Bookmarks by Valerie Parente
I keep on seeing these bookmarks
telling me where I left off
but I can’t go back to that plot
without hurting my heart;
maybe it’s time for a fresh start.
You see, I was reading for so long
learning how I could belong
and maybe that’s where I went wrong
because it shouldn’t be so hard
to appreciate another person’s art.
Now I look at my bookcase
a mix of textbooks on display
many unfinished but still I wait
because I’m afraid to turn the page;
for this chapter in my life to go away.
I think the problem with my head
is that I identify with all I’ve read
memorizing lines by accident
and prolonging the feelings I said
because I never wanted the story to end.
– Valerie Parente (6-15-2020)
Wind Up Toy by Valerie Parente
I’ve been played
led in a straight line
but I can’t think straight
after all this time.
You wound me up
into an emotional frenzy
then sold me out
and I wound up crazy.
– Valerie Parente (6-13-2020)
My Mantra by Valerie Parente
You can go to bed a mess
as long as you wake up feeling blessed.
– Valerie Parente (6-10-2020)
Why? by Valerie Parente
I’m really not trying to live in the past tense
but why after all the ways you made my mind bend
do I still want to protect you from the consequence
of how you destroyed me with your actions?
I’m really not trying to cause any hurt
you might even ask “why would she print these words?”
and it’s because I’ll never be able to move forward
until I put these feelings on the record.
– Valerie Parente (6-9-2020)
Farewell by Valerie Parente
How sad it must be
to go from a wonderful blessing
to my life’s greatest lesson.
– Valerie Parente (6-4-2020)
Love Vs. Obsession (One in the Same) by Valerie Parente
What is the difference between love and obsession?
Because the two are synonymous in a mind like mine.
And I’m really not trying to cross a line
but I can’t control the way feelings reorganize my mind.
Why is obsession only beautiful
when obsession is mutual?
You say I have to apologize when I care in that beautiful way
Everybody else gets to experience love without the shame
Now the girl with OCD starts to love and it’s called insane
But I really can’t help it that love and obsession have always been one in the same.
– Valerie Parente (4-24-2020)
The Grand Art Project by Valerie Parente
People who say they don’t like art don’t understand that every single thing in reality is a form of expression, thus can be categorized as artwork. Throughout your life you go through different phases, all eerily bound by theme and divine timing, each phase being a piece of artwork. A chapter in a book is a written form of expression and a chapter in your life will prove to be equally as expressive but in a more mental form. And life itself is your grandest art project. Make it beautiful.
– Valerie Parente (3-16-2020)
Black Hole by Valerie Parente
Why is it that
my deepest pain
is not the pain of loss or betrayal or heartbreak
it’s the pain that has no reason for being there
no origin
as if I was simply born with this
and I can’t help but wonder
do other people feel this too?
An inexplicable pull into a black hole? Meant to consume.
– Valerie Parente (3-3-2020)
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