Medusa Had It Right by Valerie Parente
Medusa had it right
when she turned that man to stone.
Female wrath doesn’t just happen
it gets provoked.
If you dare look at her
when she does not condone
don’t act surprised
by the rage she holds
because the male gaze
only benefits one role
and it’s not the women
it pretends to boast.
– Valerie Parente (3-7-2025)
They Want Your Heart of Gold by Valerie Parente
It is not your fault
that you were manipulated again
you trust so easy
and find it hard to comprehend
that someone might use you
to tie up their own loose ends;
just know your greatest crime
was being a good person.
You have a softness through and through
and this quality attracts manipulators to you
because you have something that they don’t
a heart, and it’s made of pure gold.
Gold is one of the easiest elements to mold
to poke and prod and fold
manipulators see you as a commodity to behold
as if your honesty and loyalty could be sold
but did you also know
that gold does not easily corrode?
They can scratch and stretch and pull
but nothing can chip away at your soul.
Darling, you have a heart of gold
and the ones manipulating have a gaping hole.
Guess who is the valuable one
between the two of those?
– Valerie Parente (3-1-2025)
Winter Trees by Valerie Parente
Winter trees look quite distressed,
naked before the rest
but did you ever notice
that winter trees perfectly reflect
the roots that grow in the depths
of the grime, the grit, the stress,
in the dark it all manifests.
Like dendrites as they work,
planted once, then bringing forth
the nutrients through the dirt,
all you need to grow well versed,
a mirror for what it’s worth
of what goes on unearthed,
bound to one place but still traversed.
Winter trees denote
the truth of the untold,
that the ways we grow
don’t always show
until we withstand the cold,
so let it be known
as above, so below.
– Valerie Parente (2-23-2025)
Supernova by Valerie Parente
A dying star
is still a star, nevertheless
and when it goes out
a burst of light will be its last breath
leaving behind
shockwaves, so complex
the world cannot help
but feel its effects.
We may call it space
but there is no emptiness
for memories will linger
far past any death.
– Valerie Parente (2-16-2025)
A Mystery by Valerie Parente
When you were young
you wanted to be left alone
for the sole purpose
of attracting a hero.
You didn’t want to be a spouse
you didn’t want to be a camaraderie
you didn’t want to be a parent
you wanted to be a mystery.
You’d sit alone in silence
where smiles were forbidden
because if they understood how you felt
they’d lose all interest.
You were adolescent and vulnerable
and deep in your sins
but would you believe
you were still innocent?
Never call it a conscious choice
when you were tricked to choose
by the shadows in predispositions
trauma of the old and the new.
Despite it all, you wouldn’t call it hell
the pain you endured in the past
hell would have been going through it all
without the support system you had.
You nearly lost it all to the shadows
but you made it out with so much more
manifesting your own enlightenment
you became the hero you longed for.
It is no longer a mystery
how the light shined through
it came through all the cracks
of the hearts that broke for you.
And if you could tell your younger self
one little clue
let it be the resounding phrase
“I forgive you”.
– Valerie Parente (2-8-2025)
Scar Tissue by Valerie Parente
You are designed
to heal from the inside out
it can be ugly on the surface
but you should be proud
because these marks take time
and show your defiance to pain
its the art of surviving
so unique to your shape.
You are your own hero
but don’t forget, you are human
and healing takes time
don’t make any sudden movements.
Know when to tend to wounds
and when pain’s at its end
remember, scars don’t bleed
unless you pick at them.
– Valerie Parente (2-6-2025)
Everything Is Magic by Valerie Parente
The wisemen say they don’t believe in magic.
They believe in reality.
But reality is magic.
You’ve just been conditioned not to see.
Symbols on a piece of parchment
can make you hear voices
see new worlds
weigh different choices.
They can prompt an epiphany
share cures or poisons
elicit joy or devastation
be one of the greatest forces.
Potions consumed from bottles
can perform a range of spells
course through your blood
send you to heaven or hell.
They can spark bravery
inhibitions, they can quell
they can make a shy man speak
become another version of himself.
Elixirs from the earth
are constantly feeding
giving energy to move
and keep your heart beating.
They fight off disease
they bind the bleeding
supercharged by a fireball
we call it sunlight gleaming.
Life creates life
from life, so it goes,
and in acts of love
we see another seed grow.
It’s all virtually impossible
but breath still flows
against all the odds
you exist, and you know.
The world is a magical place
the greatest fantasy we could ever witness
everything is extraordinary
the farthest thing from hopeless
you’ve just been taught
not to notice.
Heart In My Throat by Valerie Parente
I had a distressing dream
that my heart was in my throat
and the voice inside of me
didn’t know how to flow.
I struggled to tell the elders
I could not survive like this
but they were just happy
that love in me still exists.
All of my love and heartache
at the same level I consume
the two were not the same
but my signals were askew.
A heart in the throat
is a very strange case
I could still feel it all
it just came from the wrong place.
It is not an easy way to live
and I had trouble vocalizing
how I would not survive
but I kept on surviving.
When I awoke, I remembered my youth
and how I thought I’d die instead of grow
but here I am, my adulthood so full of love
each day fulfilled beyond my wildest hopes.
I think it was young me all along
trying to communicate
“Thank you for believing I was wrong”
to the elder in me today.
– Valerie Parente (1-26-2025)
Hunger by Valerie Parente
I was never any good
at decoding my appetite,
was I really hungry
or was I empty inside?
Not in the pit of my stomach
but my heart and its hole,
looking for an object
for my affection to go.
I strive for permanence
but permanence scares me,
I’m afraid of full
but full is not finality,
there’s a fleeting hunger
that comes and goes,
and I am an example
of the flux and flow.
Ever since I met you
I feel the endless regimen,
the cycle of hunger
is a permanent impermanence,
a satisfaction then a longing
hungry, full, then hungry again,
and you remind me
that this makes me human.
I will always come back
now that I’ve had a taste
I finally understand my appetite
and the way it is paced.
I will always want you again
just not all at once
and I am no longer afraid
of a man’s permanence.
– Valerie Parente (1-19-2025)
Dreamcatcher by Valerie Parente
To catch a dream
you must live with the thought
as if your dream
is already caught.
All you found in your sleep
cannot be lost
just write it down
to manifest the plot.
You’ve seen if before
you will see it again
this time, awake
the way you imagined.
Your dreams are manifestations of your mind.
Your mind is a manifestation of the universe.
Your universe is a manifestation of your dreams.
Creation never ends, it only morphs.
– Valerie Parente (1-4-2025)
valerieparente 