Boys by Valerie Parente
The teacher turned to the schoolgirls, “And what do we say when boys break our hearts?”
The girls raised their hands, “They get rid of our writer’s block.”
– Valerie Parente (12-8-2019)
Boys by Valerie Parente
The teacher turned to the schoolgirls, “And what do we say when boys break our hearts?”
The girls raised their hands, “They get rid of our writer’s block.”
– Valerie Parente (12-8-2019)
Grand Scheme by Valerie Parente

I always felt like my mind was too big to fit inside me
that any attempt at fully articulating my thoughts would surely be a masterpiece
because the universe is always trying to whisper her poetry
and if I can capture just one conscious stream
then all the world’s pain would be worth it in the grand scheme.
– Valerie Parente (12-3-2019)
Rise Above by Valerie Parente

You beat me to the punch
Knocked me upside the head
But I got off the ground once
I can do it again.
– Valerie Parente (11-29-2019)
Projection by Valerie Parente
you never really did care, did you?
it was never about my feelings
it was about abiding your ego
and the anxiety that makes it seem whole
when in reality you’ve just been stuffing fear into a structure you call personality
fear of intimacy
fear of commitment
fear of emotions
it was never really about me not being good enough
it was about you maintaining your phobias.

– Valerie Parente (11-25-2019)
Emotional Depth by Valerie Parente
On the nights I can’t express myself
It’s because I feel underwhelmed.
The world of feelings is my fuel
and I’ll be damned if I don’t bruise.
If there is no emotional depth
then I am nothing but useless.

– Valerie Parente (11-24-2019)

The Artist, The Muse by Valerie Parente
What if the artist is her own muse?
Well then the art is her own truth.
This girl, a mastermind of the English language,
This girl, unmasked, has a mind of ink and pages.
Her metaphors have a way of making the literal very literary.
She believes in foreshadowing, the act of oncoming clouds.
Though it’s make-believing… for shadows, in fact, are uncommon in clouds.
A dreamer, she is.
A dream, where she lives.
She makes stories and tales
Making up stories entails
Being in private
There she writes this…
Man invested in an emotional girl
Manifested in the motion of words
Written on many sheets that hide
Ridden of men, she confides.
When she finally decides to share a work spawned from her mind
Then you find that she designed a rare world flawed on the inside.
Still, each of her works expressed.
Will teach of her worst and best.
Interesting how brave she is
In trusting the reader to read her.
She is the author who yearns as affliction writes her unique imagination.
Shares another, you soon learn as a fiction writer, you need image innovation.
A motif is a treasure.
A treasure is her motif.
Therefore, when the artist is her own muse
She makes use of her own truth.
Buy The Artist, The Muse : A Poetry & Prose Collection

– Valerie Parente (11-20-2019)
Self-Inflicted by Valerie Parente
For once I just wish I could hurt someone else’s feelings without feeling any remorse;
because I apologize in vain and I internalize the pain
and I don’t want to feel any more
for the people who don’t feel my hurt.

– Valerie Parente (11-17-2019)

Asphyxiation by Valerie Parente
When I think a negative thought
I hold my breath;
try to kill it off
by suffocating it to death.
– Valerie Parente (11-6-2019)
Enough by Valerie Parente
Don’t tell me you miss the old me
when the old me wasn’t good enough for you.

– Valerie Parente (11-12-2019)
Temporary Fix by Valerie Parente

I felt fuzzy and like my vision was delayed
and I couldn’t keep up with the things my mind wanted to say
and it was nice not to have to think twice
because I was too busy trying to walk in a straight line.
My mind is always racing
and it was nice to slow down the pacing
all the worry, insecurity, anger…
It was too blurry to see my problems
so I didn’t even need to solve them
finally some peace of mind, without the effort or time.
– Valerie Parente (11-11-2019)