SALVATION (A Mask)

July 15, 2022July 15, 2022Leave a comment

SALVATION (A Mask) by Valerie Parente

Saving lives
and ruining lives
are two very different things
but often the ones who promise salvation
are the ones that follow it with condemnation
and it is this very intolerance
that muddies all common sense.

They say they want to help
by creating a concept of hell
but they don’t really want to save your soul
they just want power and control.

True salvation doesn’t come from a hierarchy or rules
true salvation comes from acceptance with the truth
and the truth is there’s something within
that makes you ever so resilient.

– Valerie Parente (7-15-2022)

A Harpy’s Observation

June 10, 2022December 6, 2022Leave a comment

A Harpy’s Observation by Valerie Parente

The harpy fought her darkness
but vowed in her core
she would never haunt another.

Quite often she noticed
from her bird’s eye view
something ever so cruel.

All throughout the village
so many so called lovers
continuously hurt each other.

So she asked the lunar druid,
“Why are there so many toxic pairs?”
and to that he declared.

“Damaged people damage people
when mental health defects
remain unchecked.

Yes we all have a dark side
and I shall not fault one for their darkness
unless it goes unaddressed.

So many become a pair
and they foster displacement
from their own self-hatred.

You must at least try
to find healing in yourself
before you find love in someone else.”

– Valerie Parente (6-10-2022)

Rollercoaster

June 29, 2019June 29, 2019

Rollercoaster by Valerie Parente

I’m starting to hope that this ride ends soon
because I’m so sick of trying to make sense of you

I’ll admit I liked the high, but I sure do miss the ground
at first it was a thrill, but I think I might throw up now

Yes you showed me a good time but I want so many more
I think that’s why I held on so tight to this rollercoaster

It’s getting pretty late and we probably should go home
I wish you’d come along but I won’t be surprised if you don’t.

Tycoon

– Valerie Parente (6-29-2019)

Tangled

May 31, 2019May 31, 2019Leave a comment

“String Me Along”

Tangled by Valerie Parente

All these tangled thoughts
have one common thread
twisted in a pattern
I’ve memorized in my head.

Stringing me along
with so much time spent
leaving me weak and worn
frayed and torn to shreds.

So much pretty yarn
it tells me where I’ve been
but it’s nobody’s concern
when I tie up the loose ends.

I wonder how long
until someone notices
I’ve been weaving my words
hoping that they’ll be read.

– Valerie Parente (5-31-2019)

Hindsight of the Falsehood

October 14, 2017December 6, 2017Leave a comment

Hindsight of the Falsehood by Valerie Parente

I thought a lot about things that weren’t true,
and took for granted the innocence of something new.
Some feelings more common than I realized,
sculpted from hormones, wrongly idealized.
Written off as young love gone wrong,
no more than a dramatic falsehood all along.
Turning fleeting feelings into fixations,
a pruning brain learning the process of iterations.
But I am older now and I know the truth,
New wisdom can only enrich my youth.

"Eponia's Token" by Valerie Parente

– Valerie Parente (10-14-2017)

I Wish You Well

June 27, 2017June 28, 20171 Comment

I Wish You Well by Valerie Parente

Once upon a time two years ago,
the girl knew she fell
but she did not realize where she fell.
Then the light revealed her boundaries.
She realized where she fell two years ago,
in the wishing well she called her own.
A beautiful wish disguised by cold stone
meticulously crafted to suppress the magical pressure down below,
but with nowhere else to go
her pent up energy overflowed.
The water level rose and she began to float.
She accepted where she fell two years ago.
The girl wished and fell into her own wishing well
and for once upon a time, she felt well.

I Wish You Well

– Valerie Parente (6-27-17)

Touch the Heart

June 4, 2017June 4, 20171 Comment

only love can break a heart

Of course I still love you.

Hearts were designed to feel the touch of love, and that impression will forever be remembered.

If you hurt me and it breaks my heart, it is because I love you.

If you hurt me and it does not break my heart, it is because you never touched my heart from the start.

– Valerie Parente (6-4-2017)

Pretty Darkness

December 9, 2016December 9, 2016Leave a comment

The aesthetic of pretty and dark is an interesting one because it poses a sort of juxtaposition that never gets old. When it comes to portraits and doodles the pink ribbons, heart tattoos, and vibrant roses printed among the la femme drawings capture you in but the provocative gothic tones of mascara stains, bloody tears, and decaying branches dare you too look away. Look, but don’t look. Dismal, yet dazzling. There is this perpetual captivation fueled by the melancholic intimacy behind pretty darkness.
The same juxtaposing state exists when the art of written word hones this pretty darkness. The proper dosage of negativity in text can elicit the rawest and rarest of emotions- and emotion on any level is a beautiful and breathtaking part of being human. Any aesthetic that can celebrate or examine human nature, in any of its mysteries, simplicities, miseries, and revelations, is a pretty dark one.