Tag: Valerie Parente

Flood

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Flood by Valerie Parente

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.

– Valerie Parente (5-9-2025)

Semi-Lucid

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Semi-Lucid by Valerie Parente

I have semi-lucid dreams
with a blurry kind of vividness
I am aware of my surroundings
but I am just a witness
I cannot actively make decisions
prefrontal cortex with a stillness
I go on watching, learning
yet I am somehow complicit
like I can choose my moves
but my stance can only pivot
through endless possibilities
yet my discretion has a limit.

I think being semi-lucid
mirrors my awake state
when it comes to my obsessions
and the anxiety they create
because I am like a witness
I watch myself fixate
and all I can do is bystand
hoping others can separate
the me that knows it’s crazy
with the me that’s crazy anyways.

When the moon crosses the sky
and the dreamcatcher chases me alive
I am tripping through the semi-lucid
rediscovering the fabric of my mind.

– Valerie Parente (4-26-2025)

The False Promise of the Damsel in Distress

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The False Promise of the Damsel in Distress
by Valerie Parente

I don’t think enough girls were taught the difference
between being in love and being obsessed,
so many stories of womanhood
were really stories of sickness,
that to attract a man
you have to be a damsel in distress,
that happily ever after was the goal
and your journey before was meaningless.

They taught us that pity
means he endlessly cares
and that negative attention
means love is in the air.
They said there has to be an obstacle
you can only overcome with him there,
that your accomplishments are null
unless a prince witnessed the despair.

So here’s to the girls
who broke their own hearts
taking on the damsel archetype
before adulthood could even start.
We are not ruined beyond repair,
we’re just a little scarred;
may we raise our daughters
as we raise our bars.

– Valerie Parente (3-28-2025)

Free In My Own Skin

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Free In My Own Skin by Valerie Parente

If there were no men I’d be naked all of the time.
If there was no threat I’d be making my own highs.
If there was no sex I’d be vacant in my mind.
And I am compelled to be a sin in their eyes.

I don’t do provocative for them, I do it for me
because being feminine makes me feel free
and the fact that that’s a danger to society
is nothing short of chauvinism at its peak.

– Valerie Parente (7-11-2024)

Lone Wolf

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Lone Wolf by Valerie Parente

Maybe I’m just a lone wolf,
me, myself, and I,
don’t have to worry about a pack,
it’s just me, myself, and rhymes.

Baby I’m just a lone wolf,
ever so hard to swoon,
but why do I still blush,
when you howl at the moon?

You should stay away from me,
I can tear you apart,
if I feel the slightest threat,
I’ll turn the predator in me on.

But even a lone wolf
has that canine inside,
with so much love for people,
but it’s people who should hide.

– Valerie Parente (7-5-2024)


Homebody

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Homebody by Valerie Parente

I was looking for a place to call home
when a realization flashed like a spark,
that home is those moments in time,
times when loved ones left their mark.
And moments in time
are always doomed to depart,
to become invisible and intangible
except for in my heart.
Home is not something I will lose
if it is already lost
and in that way there is nothing new to fear
unless you fear what we are.

– Valerie Parente (6-14-2024)

Underwater

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Underwater by Valerie Parente

I have this recurring dream
where I am under an aquatic spell
that allows me to breathe underwater
just me, and no one else.

It is a gift I forget I have
and to forget is a gift as well.
What a thrill to be able to remember,
remember but never dwell.

Like a mermaid in the sea
I am intrinsically compelled
to harbor feelings deep as the ocean
far from the surface that swells.

But living life underwater
can also feel quite like hell
because when mermaids cry
you can never really tell.

– Valerie Parente (1-12-2024)

If Only My Thoughts Could Fly Away

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If Only My Thoughts Could Fly Away by Valerie Parente

Crossed my legs and started to pray
that my thoughts could just fly away
but they’re delicate, so I confined them
inside a cage of the like-minded.

These thoughts have a life of their own
beautiful ravens that don’t know where to go
I tell them, “It’s okay, go with peace”
but they don’t know who they are without me.

The feelings are mutual between the thinker and the thoughts
but maybe it’s time to align with an outside cause…
so to those darklings with feathered wings
I bid you farewell from your upbringing.

– Valerie Parente (1-7-2024)