Encased

November 23, 2025November 23, 2025Leave a comment

Encased by Valerie Parente

I know I said I killed my younger self
but I was lying
I didn’t kill her
I locked her away
so that she would feel safe.

I thought I threw away the key
so I could preserve her whimsy
but I forgot in my haste
that behind a glass case
she could watch the world change
while staying the same age.

My life went on and progressed
with my inner child as my witness
and it took a long time
before I finally realized
I wasn’t trying to prove myself
to society or anyone else.

I’m not trying to impress you
I’m trying to impress 12 year old me
to be her idea of beauty
so that she could see
all those big scary feelings
didn’t kill her dreams
and it was this epiphany
that revealed the key
so I unlocked the case
and I set younger me free
as a way to say “forgive me
I loved you more than anything
may you go with ease
may you go with peace.”

– Valerie Parente (11-23-2025)

Gossip

October 18, 2025October 19, 2025Leave a comment

Gossip by Valerie Parente

The voices in my head
like to gossip about me
little cliques from a school
a school of thought I attend daily.

They say never speak ill of the dead
but what if it’s the dead that speaks
leftover whispers from the depression
gossiping ghosts I already buried.

It’s anxiety that gossips
it’s intuition that simply breathes
with fear you’re not the one talking
you’re the one eavesdropping intently.

I will never be a victim to negative words
there is no need to go mad or worry
because the voices can’t talk behind my back
when I can see them right in front of me.

– Valerie Parente (10-18-2025)

Scabs

September 19, 2025September 20, 2025Leave a comment

Scabs by Valerie Parente

You pick at your scabs just to watch them scab again
so that when they heal over you’ll feel satisfaction
but you’re only making yourself more susceptible to infection
so don’t be surprised when the sickness seeps in
and you long to inflict hurt for the sake of revenge
as you wield a weapon and declare it’s medicine
then wait and wait for the scabs, the reaction.

Somebody who needs others to know they have healed
is not healed.
Somebody who needs to create hurt to feel healed
is not healed.
Somebody who picks at their scabs so they can scab again
is not healed.

– Valerie Parente (9-19-2025)

The Damsel & The Demon (INTRO)

August 27, 2025August 27, 2025Leave a comment

The Damsel & The Demon
by Valerie Parente

There once was a Damsel named Daphne
and when she was just a girl
she started having intrusive thoughts
that drew her to the underworld.

There stood the kingdom of Nefaria
ruled by a soul sucking Demon
he preyed on the vulnerable
by giving them something to believe in.

With the incessant rhymes in her head
the Damsel turned to the Demon for relief
tolerating and even aiding
the damned souls he heartlessly reaped.

But in a moment of profound strength
Daphne had a change of heart
she felt the fire in her own soul,
all it took was one spark.

From that day began a journey
where her codependence would be unlearned
finding a power within herself
Daphne would be the Damsel no more.

The Damsel & The Demon by Valerie Parente

The Damsel & The Demon OUT NOW

August 24, 2025August 24, 2025Leave a comment

BUY HERE

The Damsel & The Demon is a poetry/fantasy story hybrid (verse novel) meant to be an allegory for the healing process, whether that be healing from addiction, a toxic relationship, a traumatic event, or anything in between. Valerie drew inspiration from her personal struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia to create this Allegory for Healing through the lens of the main character, Daphne. For both Daphne and Valerie, fleeting feelings can only exist as fixations, and the rhythmic stanzas of an internal dialogue, playing like poetry, is the conduit between the mentally disordered author and the hexed protagonist of this story. There is so much beauty in healing, but healing is still ever so messy, uncovering darkness where we expected light and vice versa. Determined to create this massive poem with no help from search engines or AI, Valerie made it her mission to come up with every rhyme on her own; turning to the internet for help was forbidden. As a result, The Damsel & The Demon is an authentic fantastical dark fairytale scripture rich with revelations and an aim to help readers everywhere see themselves in the damsel archetype as well as the ailment they struggle to separate from in the demon.

Valerie Parente is a writer and artist from Massachusetts whose bodies of work often explore the theme, “Finding beauty in darkness” and general mental health awareness.

Blue Lips

August 24, 2025August 24, 2025Leave a comment

Blue Lips by Valerie Parente

You say, something about the cold
and how it makes you depressed
like the whole world goes dark
and you lose all interest.

You say, the cold is like death
but for me I feel alive
because we can only see breath
when it’s cold outside.

I say, something about the cold
and how it makes my lips blue.
Well at least when I’m cold
I’m the color of you.

– Valerie Parente (8-24-2025)

sick in the head

August 20, 2025November 23, 2025Leave a comment

sick in the head by Valerie Parente

I used to curse my teenage self
for wanting to be sick in the head.
30 years old
and I finally comprehend
that anybody who wants to be sick in the head
is already sick in the head.

– Valerie Parente (8-20-2025)

Trigger

June 22, 2025June 23, 2025Leave a comment

Trigger by Valerie Parente

How many people
roam around the world
trying not to be triggered
because the everyday man in the everyday trance
doesn’t understand
that the recovery phase
isn’t the same as unfazed.

It creeps up on you
these triggers
in the middle of a good day with a smile on your face
but you’re not okay
and the others don’t have a clue
that there’s a weapon inside of you
in the shape of a thought
waiting to be set off.

Therein lies the trickiness
of mental illness;
it’s invisible to everyone else
so we never know when we trigger it.

But there’s a beauty in you
that should be mentioned;
that you don’t go around the world
being unaffected.

Your triggers make you human
through and through
because what is a flawless mind
but a lesser version of me and you.

– Valerie Parente (6-22-2025)

Voices

June 10, 2025June 16, 20251 Comment

Voices by Valerie Parente

Your mind was still your mind
when you were too young for words.
You were someone before you could define
anything in this world.
That’s how I know when your thoughts are unkind
it is something separate that creates the hurt.
You are the thing behind
the whispers that float forth.

You are not the voices in your head,
you are the choices you make
after hearing them.

– Valerie Parente (6-10-2025)

Forbidden Fruit

May 31, 2025May 31, 2025Leave a comment

Forbidden Fruit by Valerie Parente

Temptation isn’t temptation
without a moral compass
and sin isn’t sin
without omniscient justice.
But who gets to say
what is and isn’t forbidden?
Who are you really spiting
with the apple you’ve bitten?
How can you say my nature is evil
if I was created in His image
then turn around and say He loves me
without any conditions?

I’ve deprived myself long enough
thanks to willful ignorance,
starved myself
thinking I would be different,
felt the bones of my ribcage
with blind commitment,
realized I lost half my life
to a sick and twisted vision,
then rose from the dead
with a whole new mission;
I will sink my teeth into fruit
regardless of permission.