Obsidian Dagger

Obsidian Dagger by Valerie Parente

If you think about messing with her
think again,
she’s got this obsidian dagger
in her right hand,
ready to cut you up
into a celestial blend,
fall out of touch
you’ll get the glossy edge,
a ritual of writing
ready to commence,
her way of fighting
a black glass weapon,
make no mistake
it’s all self defense,
for this ebony blade
she’ll never lament,
she takes a phrase
like a witch in a garden,
praising mental states
for the efflorescence,
dare you take her art
under a false pretense,
she’ll slice you apart
then wish you the best,
’cause she comes from stardust
the same place you’ve been,
but a language monarch
can bring you back to heaven,
she’s only just begun
so due and diligent,
with that silver on her tongue
and a dagger of obsidian.


– Valerie Parente (5-22-2021)

Blue to Green

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)

Third Poetry & Prose Collection

Do you want to own a hard copy of my latest poetry?
My third poetry and prose collection is currently in the works and includes fan favorites such as:

Not Bionic
These Laurels Were Never Meant To Rest
The Spider Princess
Material Girl
Seascape

Like Fine China
Poetry: Sight and Sound
Fishnets
Pamper Yourself

Celestial Being

…and over 150 more pieces!

Make sure to Follow this blog, valerieparente.com, to stay up to date for the new book release!

Wildflower

Wildflower by Valerie Parente

Wildflower,
pressed against these pages,
just a bookmark of these phases,
in all your waxing and waning,
tissue paper petals for taking,
in this meadow I’ve been saving,
unintentional in all its making,
from seeds that stray adjacent,
once so wild, now so patient,
poetry on a page that’s been dated,
where my Wildflower lies naked,
years after the displacement,
a simple plant so complicated.

– Valerie Parente (5-4-2021)

Black and White

Black and White by Valerie Parente

They say the higher you climb,
the harder the fall,
but if you ask me,
that doesn’t make sense at all.
When I’m sky high,
the clouds are my cushion,
the sun is my eyes,
and the moon is my vision.
I see a gradient in everything,
life is not black and white,
“all is good, all is evil,”
is a fallacy old as time.
I see it from the cliff,
the gifted and the damned,
and there’s really no difference,
between those two hands.
Every blessing has its dark hours,
every curse can shed a light,
it’s about finding the gray area,
between the black and white.
The hurt feels so dark,
the hope, a bright light,
the heal, a full moon,
connecting day to night.

– Valerie Parente (4-14-2021)

Silver Chains

Silver Chains by Valerie Parente

This silver-lining
made out of silver chains
I feel so lovely
but a little afraid.

Just like the moon
with a silver face
I feel the light
through the night’s haze.

For so long
I’ve been constrained
“Don’t feel too much”
now it’s okay.

My silver tongue
makes a new phrase
as my poetry
feels the change.

This silver-lining
made out of silver chains
like a pretty puppet
of the moon’s phase.

Don’t get me wrong
this is not a complaint
it’s my favorite problem
I’ve ever faced.

– Valerie Parente (3-18-2021)

Moonchild Manifesto

Moonchild Manifesto by Valerie Parente

You are a Moonchild.
You embody moods like phases in orbital rotations.
Every moving body comes in cycles
around a world you set your mind to.
That’s when the words begin to flow
like the tides under your gravitational pull.
You fall and you feel and you break,
wondering how others could be so unfazed.
Because you are in love night and day
while the rest are just lost in space.

– Valerie Parente (2-23-2021)

Not Bionic

Not Bionic by Valerie Parente

You can be recovered
and still not feel okay
maybe for minutes
maybe for days
the key is accepting
that you operate
on the very mechanisms
that make you brave.
You are not bionic
you are not unfazed.
You are a child
of the moon’s display
and that will always mean
that sadness comes in waves
but so does happiness
it arrives all the same.
It is this temperament
that helps you create
it is your reactions
that leave room for grace.
When you have a memory
and it’s by mistake
you are allowed to feel
any type of way
because you are not bionic
you are not man-made
you are something natural
deep in outer space
you are endless and real
in mankind’s masquerade.

– Valerie Parente (3-4-2021)