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)
Mermaid Hair & A Little Black Dress
by Valerie Parente
Mermaid hair and a little black dress
one for my inner child
one for her last breath.
Because I wasn’t ready
to grow up just yet
so when I felt wronged
I found poetic justice.
They said “what do you want to be when you grow up?”
and I said “a girl with mermaid hair”
for all the times as a kid
that I was too scared
of the fateful hour glass
and its ground of sand
so I stuck my head in the clouds
not all quite there
regressing and digressing
into my own fairy tale.
They said “dress as the impression you want to give”
so I wore a little black dress
’cause black goes with everything
and I’m an artist
breaking down reality
so it all makes sense
to little kid me
and the woman she respects
so that one fateful day
the heart in my chest
will end its marathon
with little to no regrets.
– Valerie Parente (5-11-2025)
Semi-Lucid by Valerie Parente
I have semi-lucid dreams
with a blurry kind of vividness
I am aware of my surroundings
but I am just a witness
I cannot actively make decisions
prefrontal cortex with a stillness
I go on watching, learning
yet I am somehow complicit
like I can choose my moves
but my stance can only pivot
through endless possibilities
yet my discretion has a limit.
I think being semi-lucid
mirrors my awake state
when it comes to my obsessions
and the anxiety they create
because I am like a witness
I watch myself fixate
and all I can do is bystand
hoping others can separate
the me that knows it’s crazy
with the me that’s crazy anyways.
When the moon crosses the sky
and the dreamcatcher chases me alive
I am tripping through the semi-lucid
rediscovering the fabric of my mind.
– Valerie Parente (4-26-2025)
The Default by Valerie Parente
The default is compassion
but when it comes to yourself, it’s dissatisfaction.
So why can’t you grant yourself the grace
you so easily give others in the same headspace?
Why when perspective is first person
is the expectation to be perfect?
You are someone else’s someone else,
and if you can identify their cry for help
why can’t you do the same
when it comes to your own brain?
You have so much empathy for the human condition,
step outside yourself and listen,
everything you go through, someone else can relate to,
it’s time to change the default settings and reboot.
– Valerie Parente (4-19-2025)
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