Temple by Valerie Parente
A place of worship,
they call it a temple
but it is not a building
it is the soul’s vessel.
Like a shrine, you are sacred
embodying something larger than life
a spirit that extends flesh
but this temple gives it sight.
If you knew how irreplaceable you are
you would never lose faith again
that you were meant to be here
despite the where, why, and when.
– Valerie Parente (5-25-2025)
In Your Orbit by Valerie Parente
In your orbit
I am more than enough
just like a planet
who’s found her sun.
It once seemed aimless
the path I embarked
but it was all predestined
written in the stars.
I would go on untethered
bound to no such rotation
if it weren’t for you
or the gravity of the situation.
In your orbit
I will never stray
I could go around the world forever
with the pull of your weight.
– Valerie Parente (5-19-2025)
Mermaid Hair & A Little Black Dress
by Valerie Parente
Mermaid hair and a little black dress
one for my inner child
one for her last breath.
Because I wasn’t ready
to grow up just yet
so when I felt wronged
I found poetic justice.
They said “what do you want to be when you grow up?”
and I said “a girl with mermaid hair”
for all the times as a kid
that I was too scared
of the fateful hour glass
and its ground of sand
so I stuck my head in the clouds
not all quite there
regressing and digressing
into my own fairy tale.
They said “dress as the impression you want to give”
so I wore a little black dress
’cause black goes with everything
and I’m an artist
breaking down reality
so it all makes sense
to little kid me
and the woman she respects
so that one fateful day
the heart in my chest
will end its marathon
with little to no regrets.
– Valerie Parente (5-11-2025)
Flood by Valerie Parente
Numb
numb
numb
then like a flood
I felt it all
grief, guilt, but most of all
the feeling of being loved
and I could never be mad
at the way my loved ones loved me
when I was incapable
of feeling sorry
because they were the ones that cared
when I was too scared
and they cried
cried
cried
like a flood
in dry air.
I feel it all now
for all those times that I caused pain
and I just want my support system to know
the love was never in vain
the storm clouds are gone
but I am here, I remain
and I am more grateful
than a flower is to rain.
– Valerie Parente (5-9-2025)
Intrinsic by Valerie Parente
The world is nothing
if it goes unseen
so I must mean something
in the grand scheme.
– Valerie Parente (5-1-2025)
Observer Effect by Valerie Parente
I once had an incredibly vivid dream
that I was conducting an experiment, and I died
and I watched the wall I was looking at
lose a richness only living eyes could provide.
They say you can see the fluidness of life
vanish from a dead person’s eyes
but it actually goes both ways
my ghost saw the same wall, and it was dry.
The world is missing something too
when it is no longer witnessed by a life
I discovered that the simple act of observation
gave the inanimate a quality I can’t describe.
When I’m awake, you know they say
that all matter has its own vital signs
what might be breath in a living body
might be in a wavelength collapsed time.
It all sounds crazy outside of slumber
but my lucid slumber helped me recognize
that miracles like life extend our bodies
and what is on the outside is as divine as you and I.
– Valerie Parente (4-27-2025)
Semi-Lucid by Valerie Parente
I have semi-lucid dreams
with a blurry kind of vividness
I am aware of my surroundings
but I am just a witness
I cannot actively make decisions
prefrontal cortex with a stillness
I go on watching, learning
yet I am somehow complicit
like I can choose my moves
but my stance can only pivot
through endless possibilities
yet my discretion has a limit.
I think being semi-lucid
mirrors my awake state
when it comes to my obsessions
and the anxiety they create
because I am like a witness
I watch myself fixate
and all I can do is bystand
hoping others can separate
the me that knows it’s crazy
with the me that’s crazy anyways.
When the moon crosses the sky
and the dreamcatcher chases me alive
I am tripping through the semi-lucid
rediscovering the fabric of my mind.
– Valerie Parente (4-26-2025)
The Default by Valerie Parente
The default is compassion
but when it comes to yourself, it’s dissatisfaction.
So why can’t you grant yourself the grace
you so easily give others in the same headspace?
Why when perspective is first person
is the expectation to be perfect?
You are someone else’s someone else,
and if you can identify their cry for help
why can’t you do the same
when it comes to your own brain?
You have so much empathy for the human condition,
step outside yourself and listen,
everything you go through, someone else can relate to,
it’s time to change the default settings and reboot.
– Valerie Parente (4-19-2025)
Warrior Princess by Valerie Parente
Why be a damsel in distress
when you can be a warrior princess?
Be your own champion
instead of just waiting.
Get up and take action
and feel a new kind of passion
that does not heat or cool
on the whim of a man’s mood.
If you’re proud and poised
dictated by your own choice
they say you’re a tramp
because you don’t belong to a man
so screw being appraised
by your last, not first name.
You are entitled when provoked,
swing the sword on your own!
You are not to apologize
to settle or compromise
for the system thrust forth
the moment you were born.
You were always a warrior deep down
that’s why they created a crown
to distract you with a wish
to be a trophy to those you kiss.
It may sound crazy
but in this world it’s an act of bravery
to dare to feel beautiful
without a man’s approval.
You are a warrior princess
exquisite just because you exist
as you, your own being
despite what fairytales were preaching.
– Valerie Parente (4-13-2025)
Get A Grip by Valerie Parente
They said “Get a grip!”
but I wouldn’t listen
because my favorite place
used to be in my head
but that wasn’t a place
it was a method
of coping with all
that remained unsaid
in the real world
when I felt abandoned
so I taught myself
to daydream instead.
It wasn’t until
that grip loosened
I learned who I was
and felt alive again.
I was able to create
when I’d reflect
and it was actually better
than I could ever imagine.
No more make believe
no more need to pretend
flesh and bone was superior
even if it bled.
You are my totem
my rhyme and reason
the thing that reminds me
that I am human.
You are my awakening
my reality check
the thing that made it all
begin to make sense.
You are now my favorite place
an existence I can understand
and when they say “get a grip”
I will hold onto your hand.
– Valerie Parente (4-10-2025)
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