They say when you dream you can incorporate outside stimuli and I know that must be true because I see things behind closed eyes.
When I was younger I would dream and dream and dream and now that I’m older I have woken up and everything I ever wanted was here, waiting for me. Every sound, voice, and hope that permeated those dream states Was peaking through the veil waiting for me to wake.
They say dreams really do come true but I understand now, it’s reality infused. Your destiny coincides with your gut, all you have to do is wake up.
The Damsel & The Demon is a poetry/fantasy story hybrid (verse novel) meant to be an allegory for the healing process, whether that be healing from addiction, a toxic relationship, a traumatic event, or anything in between. Valerie drew inspiration from her personal struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia to create this Allegory for Healing through the lens of the main character, Daphne. For both Daphne and Valerie, fleeting feelings can only exist as fixations, and the rhythmic stanzas of an internal dialogue, playing like poetry, is the conduit between the mentally disordered author and the hexed protagonist of this story. There is so much beauty in healing, but healing is still ever so messy, uncovering darkness where we expected light and vice versa. Determined to create this massive poem with no help from search engines or AI, Valerie made it her mission to come up with every rhyme on her own; turning to the internet for help was forbidden. As a result, The Damsel & The Demon is an authentic fantastical dark fairytale scripture rich with revelations and an aim to help readers everywhere see themselves in the damsel archetype as well as the ailment they struggle to separate from in the demon.
Valerie Parente is a writer and artist from Massachusetts whose bodies of work often explore the theme, “Finding beauty in darkness” and general mental health awareness.
I know you like the back of my hand dwelling in the dark like roots under land.
Creature of the night you are so in love because the darkness was with you when no one else was.
I know you little nightling that dwells on the pain and trauma you know oh so well.
You love the dark but does the dark love you? When branches grow from roots you become living proof.
Pain without art is like a seed in the dark but pain with a purpose grows above the earth’s surface reaching for the sun when it’s all said and done. You are more than your roots you are what thrives above too.
Years ago I drew a picture of a girl with crystals in her mouth and I couldn’t remember if they were going in or coming out.
I realized the answer depends on how I feel now empty and unfulfilled, begging to fill a hole inside or full of emotion, like I need to express what’s on my mind.
Funny how the big picture morphs to mimic your perspective; the world is only as set in stone as a crystal is reflective.
Temptation isn’t temptation without a moral compass and sin isn’t sin without omniscient justice. But who gets to say what is and isn’t forbidden? Who are you really spiting with the apple you’ve bitten? How can you say my nature is evil if I was created in His image then turn around and say He loves me without any conditions?
I’ve deprived myself long enough thanks to willful ignorance, starved myself thinking I would be different, felt the bones of my ribcage with blind commitment, realized I lost half my life to a sick and twisted vision, then rose from the dead with a whole new mission; I will sink my teeth into fruit regardless of permission.
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.
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.
valerieparente 