Life is the Art
by Valerie Parente
I only fear death
when I think of all the art left unfinished.
But life is no conquest
it is the art and my soul is the artist.
So when their tears fall
like paint, they’ll fall for me
when their tears fall
my greatest masterpiece will be complete.
– Valerie Parente (8-6-2026)
White Noise by Valerie Parente
When I go to sleep
I need the white noise
because if it’s too quiet
I can hear my inner voice
and I don’t want to know
what it says about me
when I’m alone
and no one else can intervene.
When I’m alone
I want to stay disillusioned
that the world is still buzzing
without my movement.
I want to stay unimportant
that my problems are nothing
but a tiny side effect
of a mind that needs numbing.
– Valerie Parente (8-1-2026)
Blue Sky by Valerie Parente
I had a dream
where the blue sky went away
and the earth changed the speed it rotates
and the new speed changed the sky to black
but when the world’s speed came back
we felt the shift on the earth
and the blue sky returned
and every single person who walked outside to see the sky
bursted out and cried.
Nobody could stop themself
from feeling moved
after realizing how grateful they were
that the sky is blue.
– Valerie Parente (7-26-2026)
Transcendent Beings by Valerie Parente
When I dream
my body doesn’t come with me.
I don’t worry about the where when and why
I simply believe
and it’s already mine.
When I hope
I just need to feel it to know.
Nature doesn’t need to run it by me
like a river that flows
along my conscious stream.
There are hints all around
embedded in the sensory
that when it’s all said and done
we are transcendent beings.
I am not the life I live
through my thoughts
I am the dream that goes on
when they shut off.
– Valerie Parente (7-23-2026)
Metamorphosis by Valerie Parente
Is this the beginning of the end
or the end of the beginning?
Because I’m still me
but my world is shifting
from the safety of a cocoon
to the wind that is whistling
and as my story unfolds
I wonder how much is scripted
because they say to spread my wings
and I’ve decided to listen
but only time will tell
if this is the end or the beginning.
– Valerie Parente (7-19-2026)
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 had a way of moving 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)
valerieparente 