A Siren’s Threat by Valerie Parente
If I were a siren
I’d kill men too
lure them to the fishnets
they forced me into.
We are more than the sex
to which we have been reduced
may we serenade men to death
for all the times they’ve been cruel
because mother nature’s silhouette
is in the shape of a typhoon
and when they get shipwrecked
they won’t feel our grooves
only the ocean’s depths
under the pull of the moon
and this world would be no less
if anything, improved.
– Valerie Parente (11-29-2025)
Paradox Lock by Valerie Parente
I am tense where I am supposed to be open
So I pretend that this is a voluntary means of coping
Just a treasure I’ve been withholding.
But the truth is I have no control
of the impossible pain that takes its toll.
I am a lock who is supposed to love a key.
The very thing meant to set me free
is the same cause for my strong agony.
What they call the highest of highs
comes through me as the loneliest night.
I am exhausted when I am supposed to be energized.
They say this problem has psychological ties
manifesting as fear deep inside.
But if this is true then why can’t I recall
the very trauma that started this all?
For so long I was stuck with this mystery.
Where could I find this abnormality?
After they pointed out reality
I read into how this condition thrives
but I am still left wondering why.
– Valerie Parente (11-22-2017)
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