Tag: Poetry

Public Display of Creation

Leave a comment

Public Display of Creation

by Valerie Parente

She is afraid
of what it means to be admired
in the physical way.
And what does it mean
to be a public display?
The glitter and glamour
of all of the fame
or will she succumb
to the pressure to hide away?
What does it mean to be successful
in this day and age
when all your words are picked apart
and everyone has a say?
Because her words are her art
but the public could always manipulate
the words from her heart.
Oh but how dare they?
How dare you have an agenda,
to destroy what others make?
How dare you burn the books
when you don’t like a phrase?
How dare you take this world
and demand it revolve around your name?
Because we are all artists
with a freedom to create
and to censor what becomes popular
will only lead to a world of heartache.
Yes she’s afraid
of making it to the mainstream
but that’s a risk she’ll take
because every story needs to be seen.

– Valerie Parente (7-8-2020)

Poetic Plot

Leave a comment

Poetic Plot by Valerie Parente

For the past few years
the only thing that got rid of my writer’s block
was when you’d go and pissed me off
so now that you’re dead and gone
I’m struggling to remember how to start.
How do I write a piece from my heart
without getting your image involved?
Because you were the one to break me apart
and I know that contradicts my thoughts
that I’m trying to write about moving on
but it’s way too damn hard
not to end this with a vicious remark
a quick fuck you for affecting my art
and a quick thank you for making me your pawn
because that sick game you called my fault
made a hell of a good poetic plot.

“Can’t Trust Love” by Valerie Parente

– Valerie Parente (7-6-2020)

“In Touch” FREE ON KINDLE through 7/9/2020

Leave a comment

From now through July 9, 2020, my full length novel about obsessive compulsive disorder, In Touch, is FREE on Kindle. Click here!

“Undergraduate physics student, Jef Sterling, has done enough textbook reading to know that the universe is home to countless mind-blowing discoveries. But Jef never expected one of those discoveries to be the mind of an obsessive compulsive writer sharing the same campus as him. After reading a poem by Lacey Parker about her personal struggle with OCD, Jef’s highly rational brain fixates on uncovering the mysteries held captive in Lacey’s highly irrational brain. Throughout the course of a school year these two students exchange ideas that merge science with art, reality with fantasy, and physical phenomena with mental phenomena. While learning from one another Jef makes it his mission to make sense of Lacey’s nonsensical disorder and all of its incredible ironies; how she lives by the notion of feeling everything emotionally but dreads feeling anything physically, how her mind lives to protect as it gradually wreaks destruction, and most paradoxically how both Lacey’s most rewarding qualities and most detrimental flaws manifest from the same brain. In Touch by Valerie Parente is a realistic fiction novel alive with intellectual discussion, mental strife, heartache, and anecdotal insight into the cognitive confines of obsessive compulsive disorder.”

Colorblind

Leave a comment

Colorblind by Valerie Parente

When a million red flags aligned
I chose to be colorblind
because it’s easier when your sight
can only register black or white.
Two extremes to choose between
until a rainbow had to intervene.

– Valerie Parente (7-5-2020)

Cry Wolf

Leave a comment

Cry Wolf by Valerie Parente

I’ve said it once
and I’ll say it again:
People want to be a hero so badly,
they’ll create a villain.

Because when you cry wolf
in a self-righteous hoax
you don’t really undermine
the real bad guys.

– Valerie Parente (7-1-2020)

Reflecting

Leave a comment

Reflecting by Valerie Parente

When she reflects on her behavior
she sees her full figure
a girl who longed to be the healer
of someone as dear as a stranger
a person who liked to treat her
like she was just a feature
of what he saw in the mirror
until he found someone weaker
whose insecurity stroked his ego deeper
and now she couldn’t see it any clearer
that this hellish pain is what freed her.

– Valerie Parente (6-30-2020)

New to Patreon!

Leave a comment

For anyone interested in supporting my mission to find beauty in darknes, I just made a Patreon account. No pressure to join, I just figured I should make the option available as an artist in this day and age. http://www.patreon.com/valerieparente

The overarching theme to all my artwork- whether it is poetry, prose, stories, drawings, paintings, or photography- is finding beautiful darkness. I love finding the positive in dark moods, situations, and imagery. This is evident in my written work on my website, valerieparente.wordpress.com, and in my novels available on Amazon (“The Artist, The Muse”, “In Touch”, and “Rather Be Haunted”. I draw inspiration from a lifelong and personal struggle with very severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and anorexia. Each body of work I create centers around mental illness.
The Artist, The Muse : a poetry and prose collection about what it is like to have a mental disorder that influences your art.
In Touch : a fiction novel about a female with OCD, based on my real-life struggle with OCD, through the eyes of a male without the disorder.
Rather Be Haunted : a poetry and prose collection that explores love, heartache, and death from the perspective of a girl with OCD that feels “haunted” by the motifs in life that define her humanity, including my signature Mannequin Art (used as a commentary on what it means to learn how to be a “normal” human).

Thank you from the bottom of my heart if you are interested in my journey to discover beauty in darkness.

Red Flags

Leave a comment
“Scared to Let Go” by Valerie Parente

Red Flags by Valerie Parente

Next time I see warning signs I need to realize
that this frustration makes me see red;
that’s why the red flags were easier to protect
because the color wasn’t something I noticed.

– Valerie Parente (6-22-2020)

I Said What I Needed To Say

Leave a comment

I Said What I Needed to Say by Valerie Parente

I think a lot of people have a hard time walking away
because they could never said what they wanted to say…
but I found my words
I’m only upset because I don’t think they were heard.

– Valerie Parente (6-19-2020)

Forward

Leave a comment

Forward by Valerie Parente

“Don’t Look Back” by Valerie Parente

You don’t have to explain yourself,
the past is in the past,
it’s time to enjoy life again,
so don’t you dare look back.

When you want to regress,
just remember the fact,
that love is supposed to feel good,
it’s not a battle to be had.

You romanticized the struggle,
you let the feelings drag,
because it felt safer in this circle,
when you ran another lap.

There will be moments of doubt,
you’ll be tempted to go off-track,
but if you keep moving foward,
then you’re on the right path.

You’re not running away from problems,
you’re making a future that will last,
those old feelings were addicting,
and there’s no time to relapse.

– Valerie Parente (6-17-2020)