She Bites Back by Valerie Parente
If you bite
she bites back
then you have the nerve to make her the enemy
when she reacts
telling the world her defense mechanisms
are an attack
but you bit first
then put on the act
that it’s her fangs
with the negative impact.
Yes, you bit first
but she’ll bite last.
– Valerie Parente (7-5-2026)
home is as close to you as your heart by Valerie Parente
It’s not running away
if I bring home with me.
There’s no need to be afraid
that my love will leave
because it was always your love
that moved me.
I am only as far away
as the heart that I keep.
You are only as far away
as the heart inside you that beats.
– Valerie Parente (7-3-2026)
The Fine Line of Yearning by Valerie Parente
Yearning is a fine line
between surviving and thriving
and somewhere along the line
I fell in love with the surviving
the journey to preserve myself
while trusting the timing
that the goal of something else
would be gratifying.
But I didn’t prepare for
the comfort of discomfort
finding home in the journey
finding peace in the yearning.
Waiting
preparing
learning
becoming the best me
and when I finally had my hands on all I dreamed
I couldn’t shake the feeling
that I wanted to go back to sleep.
But now I know who I am
and I know what I will carry with me
and I know closing that circle
is where that fine line completes.
– Valerie Parente (6-28-2026)
Ephemeral by Valerie Parente
There’s nothing you could say
that would ever scare me
I only fear
no longer hearing you speak.
– Valerie Parente (6-28-2026)
Ends of the Earth
by Valerie Parente
I would go
to the ends of the earth
to make sure you know
just how much you’re worth
stretched out past the atmosphere
beyond the boundaries of the world
yes for you I would go
to the ends of the earth
because you’re less of a planet
and more of an entire universe.
– Valerie Parente (6-21-2026)
The Best Revenge Is That You Have to Live With Yourself
by Valerie Parente
The best revenge
is that you have to live with yourself.
I sleep so well
knowing you made your own hell.
I could dream up a million hells that you deserve
but nothing could be worse
to what how you must suffer
when you look in the mirror
and see someone you abhor
oh your face must contort
with a special kind of hurt
masking a frown with a smirk
against the laws of the universe
you made karma your own curse
and you might have wronged me first
but it’s your self hatred that will endure.
– Valerie Parente (5-31-2026)
pray/prey by Valerie Parente
You pray to men
while you prey on women
and we’re all supposed to pretend
we don’t notice the difference.
You tell women to do all these things
to protect themselves from men
as you tell men to put their hands together
and continue to say amen.
There is minimal accountability
for the dangers men create
many of them see women in peril
and do nothing to make a change
instead they rely on a man in the sky
to have the courage they won’t take
because even with all the cards in their hands
they still deflect the blame
and hope the man in the sky
will deal with the hell they made.
It’s not about fault
it’s about women feeling somewhat okay
while the patriarchy that runs the world
continues to make it unsafe
under the guise of faith.
– Valerie Parente (5-24-2026)
The Carnival is Back in Town
by Valerie Parente
The carnival
is back in town
and it gives me a feeling
so profound
the way we build it up
just to tear it down
like our expectations
before we all found
that the promise of adulthood
wasn’t safe and sound
it’s a game of chance
to outgrow these clowns
but that ferris wheel
it still goes around
same crazy ride
with a different crowd
and year after year
on these fairgrounds
you remember when life was fair
but it’s not fair now.
There was an innocence then
that childhood allowed
but if you listen carefully
you’ll still hear it loud
the sound of the carnival
when it’s back in town
a fleeting state
that cannot be bound.
– Valerie Parente (5-16-2026)
Stomach Lining
by Valerie Parente
Oh the irony
that I destroyed my stomach lining
in an effort to be thin,
that I can’t properly digest
the world I want to take in.
I did it to myself
swallowing pills for bloating
but the stomach didn’t shrink
it became agonizing.
Meanwhile we live in a society
handing out prescriptions
to ruin the appetite of the ones
without mental conditions.
The same doctors that wagged their fingers
in my direction
are now encouraging disorders
à la injection.
And I’m sorry but I don’t have the stomach
to actively listen
to those once preaching body positivity
now with the opposite opinion.
It’s almost like it was never about health
just a superficial conviction.
It’s a sick world equating deprivation
with sweet discipline.
No, I don’t have the stomach
or the interior lining
to digest the bullshit
the elites are buying.
The mental fortitude it takes
to fight disordered eating
has never been more difficult
for those of us healing.
– Valerie Parente (5-3-2026)
Accidental Invocations by Valerie Parente
I’m scared to let my hands touch each other
in case I have an intrusive thought,
because then God might mistake it for praying
for something that I don’t want.
When I lie down to sleep
I make sure I separate my hands
because what if I think bad things
and invoke my own nightmares?
I scramble to apologize
in case God is listening
but how can I rescind the lies
with the same voice that sins?
But then I remind myself
God’s language is genuine,
He need not know my words
because He knows my intentions.
If the universe had a voice
He would speak through energy
anxiety wouldn’t make a dent
to the creator of the grand scheme.
Fear no accidental invocations
from the obsessive compulsive thoughts,
God doesn’t reach us in the brain
He only reaches for the heart.
– Valerie Parente (5-3-2026)
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