Tag: Valerie Parente

The False Promise of the Damsel in Distress

1 Comment

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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)

WOMAN

Leave a comment

WOMAN by Valerie Parente

What is it about the female body
that makes you squirm
and throw a censor
over what should be the norm?
Because we’ve been taught to hide
veil
block
deny
then they wonder why
we harbor shame inside.

There is nothing inherently wrong
with simply existing
but to exist in the physical form
we must ask for permission.
Our body has the power
to wreak havoc on earth
and they made us believe
that is a curse
but it’s actually a gift
that in doing nothing we cause a stir
it is actually a gift
to be a WOMAN in this world.

– Valerie Parente (10-4-2023)

Sunlight Chapel (A Fantasy Chronicle)

Leave a comment

The Sunlight Chapel (A Fantasy Chronicle)

The sunlight chapel
was filled with treasures
that mankind cannot
begin to measure.
You will see Sol priestesses
when you enter,
and you will be greeted
by floating embers
suspended between breaths
of the chapel’s dwellers
wearing golden dresses
and crowns of amber feathers.
These priestesses will teach you
for they’re oh so clever
harnessing wisdom from light
they’re energy is tethered
to the mighty sun
no matter the weather.

The world is full of pain
and the night will always test
the darkness of the sky
like a hole inside your chest
but the Sol priestesses know
this wisdom above the rest,
At the end of the day
you can go to bed a mess
but come the morning light
your mindset must reset.
Every morning the sun rises
is a morning you are blessed.
Every morning arrises
and you are its witness;
the sunlight lives in you
and don’t you dare forget.

– Valerie Parente (9-15-2023)

she is the tree whisperer (A Fantasy Chronicle)

Leave a comment

she is the tree whisperer by Valerie Parente

Little baby girl
found at the bottom of a tree
nestled in the moss
along the tree’s anatomy
but she was not alone
in her perfectly sound sleep;
for the lullabies of the tree spirits
kept her warmth and company.

Found by three druids
but raised by two
they named her Sylvianna
under the wake of the moon,
offered her a home in the village
but she kindly refused
because there with the tree spirits
she felt connected to her roots.

Sylvianna grew to know the forest
like the back of her hand
from the tip of her toes
to her antennas of branch
receiving the whispers
from the lay of the land
learning about lifetimes
far beyond man.

With nails like claws
Sylvianna climbed to her kingdom
a network of treehouses
where she learned from the brilliant.
For there is a reason that trees
are known for their wisdom
because they’ve heard it all
throughout the ecosystem.

She is the tree whisperer
and she is one with the Nightingale forest
protecting the very territory
that granted her solace.
She had the option to leave
nature’s cruelty and harshness
but she whispered to herself,
“I’d much rather be haunted.”