In Her Orbit

My latest pieces

“I have survived too much to go quietly.
Let a meteor take me.
Call the thunder for back up.
My death will be grand.
The land will crack,
the sun will eat itself…

-the day I leave.” – Rupi Kuar.

Creating stardust with ink since 2005. IG: @EchoesOf.Venus

Love has always been the constant moon that orbits my world,
A gentle pull, never to depart.
I’ve had so many chances to walk on solid ground
but I rather be the other kind of girl
In its gravitational embrace I spin and spin,
A dance of souls where we may or may not win.
Bound to the light, I drift and glide,
Around your warmth, where true heart reside
floating in time
Yours and mine
In this vast endless sky, we’re lost and found—
Two stars forever in love’s orbit,
inevitably unbound.

Utterly enamored
You are
my diamond, my beau
Together we are much rarer, softer
blissfully unashamed
I’ve seen breathtaking worlds in many eyes
But there hasn’t been any thing
quite like you
I have never really known “safe”
Neither have I been truly secure in one’s arms
To become one entity during the night
and when the sun comes out from the dawn,
we reign
I see you through skin and bones
I guess I forgot what it was like to be afraid
You’ve challenged all of my defenses
This is the most peace I’ve ever had in my life
since you came.

Illustration by: Fatima Seehar
Copyright 2019 Valerie Sanchez

My body is my home
Where my mind is free to run rampant
Dwelling vigorously,
my eternal soul
There are sturdy limbs that carry
down to the halls of my fingertips
Windows in the shape of eyes
If you look inside,
can you see the castle I have built?
I had to learn how to love myself first
before I could continue to give
Constantly in renovation
of new ways to take care
so that I am never too empty, too unkempt
too depleted, or dependent
I will never be homeless

— Take care of your home.

If I wanted to
I know how I can stop the whole world
Separating myself out-of-body
Just to become one with your every word
My own bottomless ocean of feelings…
feeling you entirely
With such unfathomable intensity
Caressing you without a single touch
I can come to you vacant
but still very much whole
so I can offer you a place to get away
And gentle reminders that keep you sane
A forbidden territory for us deeply felt kind
I find comfort in knowing that you are not alone
And not letting you forget about your soul

If I wanted to…..

It’s easy for one to hookup under the moon,
But I want you in the morning
and late afternoons.
When the sun has finished stretching
and maybe some coffee too.
Breakfast on me,
lunch on you?

Illustration by: Fatima Seehar
Copyright 2019 Valerie Sanchez

I’m not sure if it was age or just the span of years
that made me start to see everything so clearly
Maybe it was when being more successful brought out true colors
Maybe it when I noticed my support system insignificantly shrunk
or when the bare minimum just wasn’t even being reciprocated
You just learn to move on…
to keep moving up.
I was never the waiting type when it came to friends
I never let my feelings about it hider my plans, or creative ventures
I was raised to keep on going
regardless of anyone or anything
I’m used to being the one you stop calling
But I still gave people the benefit of a doubt
Even when I was the first to reach out
Busy is just busy,
until somebody needs something
And suddenly, its as if time hasn’t changed a thing
once the heart remembers who I am when you feel lonely
…But when was the last time you and I were building?
I believe, there are your acquaintances
Your ‘good time” people
And your “thick through thin” friends
How ridiculously naive I was back then
It looked back only to laugh
Not everyone is your friend
And people hardly ever have your best intentions

Illustration by: Fatima Seehar
Copyright 2019 Valerie Sanchez

When I love
I love hard.
Harder.
Unconditionally,
Originally
Deep
like the ocean
You can explore on the way down
but never really get to the bottom of it
And is never the same
every time I let someone take a swim
Love
at its greatest form
may be when I look in your eyes
But where, Oh where does your ocean lie?

Illustration by: Fatima Seehar
Copyright 2019 Valerie Sanchez

Love the skin you’re in.
Mine is the covering of an artist.
Radiant.
Layered with cavernous wonders, horror stories, colorful songs.
Full of ambition, strength, & devotion.
I am an ocean of secrets, nevertheless my image doesn’t make me.
Took me a long time to feel this free.
Could you love me for me?

I blamed my mother.
For everything that went wrong
in my life since she left.
When I failed, I blamed her.
When relationships died, I blamed her
When I was alone or had to put up with the mistakes of other parental figures
Because mine didn’t try hard enough to fix hers.
I knew I needed to take control of my my own life
I was just the product of her
I just couldn’t see past the lack of love and knowledge
that was never given
To prepare me for what was there to come.
It taught me one thing..
That my child will never have to go through this.

-I am not my mother.

Sometimes
we don’t pay enough attention to the little things.
I don’t know…
maybe I’m still grieving.
So much time has passed,
but maybe not enough for me
I get lost in the fade.
In the sky seas of yesterday.
Stuck in the silhouettes of a daydream.
In hours exchange
I watch memories take shape
Then go away
I’ve just been so terribly late
Late to see the colors
Late to see all the lights
Late to see all the beauty
that has come from all of those sleepless nights…

Illustration by: Fatima Seehar
Copyright 2019 Valerie Sanchez

She is not to be confused
or misled
She never cared for perfection
Or the value of riches
Just meaningful connections
Ones that she cannot dismiss
The more humbling individuals
But those who can’t hide it
Because many hardly ever come to you beautiful
But thats exactly what she liked in people.

Let me go

It never used to feel like this

Your hands wrapped around my neck

I admit,

I believed you time and time again

Pictured you in spaces I’ve

never been able to see anyone else in

I can’t believe I really believed you this time

Perhaps it was just my soul yearning?

With this sickening amount of undefeated hope

I’ve been carrying

For a deep kind of love

A feeling that just does not cease

and can be easily confused

There’s one thing I know for sure

With you,

I’ve grown so distastefully displeased and bored.

Sunflowers follow the sun

In darkness my head hangs low

I guess that makes me every bit of a sunflower too.

I mean my stems are strong, petals stay full, and I grow.

With the sun I move.

Those invisible promise rings
Broken by a changed cosmic touch
I never wanted things to be altered so much
It’s all my fault, this detrimental expense
All of this heartache
for a should of- could of- would of been
I should of known it could be this destructive
Plummeting down on my world like a massive meteorite
I don’t think you’re aware of all that will be destroyed
I never thought you would have been someone to threaten my life
but I’ve seen this all before
Although you knew that I have practiced how to save myself
How sickening was it of you to barge in
and take what was left
You were never really here for me
This was always a recurring problem
A stupid constant flaw in my reality
It seems I can never purge my universe of them

Don’t tell me that you want to give me your heart,
To me that’s just way too cruel.
I rather feel your love while you’re free and still you
Because I too was once that fool.

Illustration by: Fatima Seehar
Copyright 2019 Valerie Sanchez

A kiss
is not just a kiss
But a constant subliminal wish
Just another lengthy trip
While our watches stop working
and the world is standing still
What is time to all those longing
When things for us usually go downhill
My souls been out wandering
The exhausted independent traveler
Such a long sleepless journey
Mon chéri,
I’ve been bettering me
Being free
and constantly- subconsciously searching
For some peace of mind
Maybe you can take me there
Kiss me all the time
I mean,
What is a cold winter
When your lips could be on mine

– December muse

Autumn leaves stripped
Sun’s late summery kiss
Like clothing slipped from skin
Sorry, did you say something?

People tend to forget that Alone and Lonely are two different things.
Alone means being home by myself drink tea and painting.
Alone means I’m laying in Central park looking at the stars at night, wondering how I’m going to take over the world
It means self-aware retrospection in my living room as I write this
But most importantly, alone means not wilting into the arms of any man or woman who may not appreciate all your stars and poetry.
Lonely is just carnal.
Lonely is craven.
Lonely is sad.

Bright lights, busy streets

Always out of time

Forever out of reach

Loving here seems almost pointless

Just too many hearts to choose

Too much pain to want to have to through

There’s always something somewhere

that someone’s got to prove

Surrounded by pride and fear on every face

You always keep the real you light years away

This fall has been so cold

You’d think all this “body heat” would suffice

Internally we are the problem

We’re to blame for all the ice

Maybe I’m starting to think that

compassion and empathy have long died

I envy you.
Your smile is beautiful by day
& even more so by night.
Perfect,
full of bliss
and untouchable only by sight.
However I am always full of hate,
seen running from my problems & mistakes.
And the people who touch me
never give but take..
I let them walk all over me.

-said the train to the Sky

My latest pieces

In My Orbit

Since You Came

Your Home

A Love Language

“Friends”

Oceans

My Skin

Daughter

Daydream

The Real Deal

Set Me Free

The Only Flower

Planet Destroyer

Finders Keepers

XO

Sunset Boulevard

The Misconception

City Love

The Train to the Sky