Dead To Me by Valerie Parente
Go ahead and be dead to me,
but don’t be surprised when I grieve.

– Valerie Parente (9-3-2020)
Dead To Me by Valerie Parente
Go ahead and be dead to me,
but don’t be surprised when I grieve.

– Valerie Parente (9-3-2020)
The Magic of Writing by Valerie Parente
Sometimes when I write poetry
I have one particular line
then I build around it over time
with specific syllables and rhymes
while forming a story-line.
Sometimes when I write prose
I have a thought in my mind
and as it starts to materialize
I come to gradually realize
an ongoing theme that transpires.
I think writing is pure magic
because I hear a phrase in my brain
then use a pen to translate
and tap into your mental space
with ease and literary grace.

– Valerie Parente (9-1-2020)

Painstaking Accountability
by Valerie Parente
The thing about making a decision
that you really don’t want to make
is that when you hurt your own feelings
you have no one else to blame.
It’s a hell of a lot harder
and takes a hell of a lot longer
to accept your own message
when you know you were never helpless.
– Valerie Parente (8-29-2020)

The Vulnerability of Hope by Valerie Parente
To have hope is to be vulnerable
and open to disappointment.
When you are hopeless nothing can hurt you,
you’ve given up and everything is pointless.
It is better to be hopeful
despite the pain that will transpire
because the universe chose us for the human experience
and that is this life’s greatest honor.
– Valerie Parente (8-28-2020)
We Walked A Fine Line by Valerie Parente
The thing about walking a fine line is that it’s easy to cross it from time to time
without actively recognizing the depth of the clouded horizon
because if it’s distance you’ve walked you need to be able to spot
how far you’ve come and how far you have to run
before the darkness takes over the sky and there’s no more hope to realize
that when you walk a very thin line it is bound to snap in no time.
– Valerie Parente (8-27-2020)
Features “Grandiosity of the Sick”, “Glitter In The Air”, and “she could not master astral projection”
from The Artist, The Muse on Amazon.com
Homesick by Valerie Parente
They say home is a state of mind
but I’ve been homesick for quite some time
trying to find solace in words and rhymes
because a replacement for you is so hard to find.
I’m just a poet looking for a place to belong
a mindset I’ve compensated for, for so long
ever since that one safe haven went wrong
and our house burned to the ground.
It’s been 12 years wandering the same path
and I wonder when I’ll finally get sick of that,
I think it’s time to hold my breath and go back
and find peace of mind in that other half.
– Valerie Parente (8-25-2020)
Features “Potential In Action”, “Good Grief”,
and “Playing With Storms (Diagnose Me)”
from Rather Be Haunted on Amazon.com

Missing You by Valerie Parente
On anniversaries like today it feels like you’re missing
but it’s not a matter of missing you;
I just miss when the means to recognize you were easier.
You still exist within me,
just in a different shape and form
in a realm that isn’t easily perceived on earth.
– Valerie Parente (8-23-2020)

Provocateur by Valerie Parente
The more they say I can’t paint that way
the more I’m going to become a public display
because the controversial thrives in me
and I make pictures from a world of make-believe.
If you say this body of art needs to stop
then congratulations, you just elongated that prompt.
I can take a thought from my own head
and plant it inside yours using the magic of words.
If this world tries to censor my sensitivities
then a storm of more expression is about to empty me.
– Valerie Parente (8-22-2020)