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Johanna Parry

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2022

Stories (20)

Comments

Library

23 Followers

36 Following

20 Stories

363 karma pts

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The Clever Unkindness of Ravens

Submitted to Contest #299

The Clever Unkindness of Ravens OOooh, ooh. Here comes another one. Steady, aim, fire! YES! The unsuspecting target looked up. Hahahaha. Caw, caw. The poor man wiped plumb spatter from his brow. “Damn birds,” he muttered. Another, another! The branch shook as the big raven jumped up and down. He cocked his head and turned a beady black eye on the next target. No way she could've seen it coming. Splat. Screech! “You fucking bird!” The woman yelled. His colors gleamed like an oil slick in the sun. Peering through the burgundy plum tree leaves...

8 likes

My Brother's Book

Submitted to Contest #297

Clara sat upright in her bed. She leaned heavily on the pillows, wistfully penning a poem about her brother.‘Oh holier than thouYou leave your markA snail trail across my years of growthConvinced and convictedWe stare across the voidOf natureUniverseThrough lives spent in recoveryHave we, though?Recovered?Each of us choosing a salve of different colorsA collection of beliefs that forgeOur way forwardWe wonderWe reach acrossAnd yet, and yetPlease…do not pray for me.I've never shared my beliefs orWants, or desires. No. Not with youThe judge, ...

8 likes

Creating Existence

Submitted to Contest #295

Her legs are completely numb, yet she remains oblivious. Lost in a profound state of "no mind," Lorrain delves deeply into her meditation, seeking the intangible rewards that beckon her. Every day, as the world slumbers, she rises at 3 a.m. and glides silently to the meditation room. Seated cross-legged on her cushion, she slips effortlessly into a profound trance, a realm between sleep and wakefulness, where thoughts evaporate like morning mist.She begins by placing her awareness at the base of her spine. Wrapped three and a half times arou...

5 likes

Morning Has Broken

Submitted to Contest #292

She sang as she spun. Her wheel clicking with each round, her foot pumping gently on its pedal. Fractals of light flashed from her glowing yarn. Well, I guess you could call it yarn. Her deft fingers flowing with the spin as she allowed the strands to move through her fingers and whirl together into an even stronger two strand twist. Once the spindle was full, she set it aside and began again. Soon there would be enough to complete the weaving. The basket beside her was filled with skeins of multicolored, glittering yarn. Well, not exac...

3 likes

Wendy

Submitted to Contest #282

I'm sorry, Wendy. It's only taken me 60 years to say this. You. With the green eyes and crooked smile. I kept wanting to believe you love me. Yet, yet, yet...the signs were always there.I think it really only hit me when I saw a movie called "The Bad Seed," where a dangerous little girl found ways to cause the death of people she didn't want in her life.We shared a bedroom. The green of your eyes did nothing to hide the jealousy you harbored for me. Our parents were struggling to discover a reason for your late emotional development. The poo...

6 likes

The Hummingbird

Submitted to Contest #258

She found it at the bottom of her sock drawer. Old cough drops, a pencil, smiles paralyzed in a photograph. Awkward almost-adults hanging on each other while holding up a trophy. It was a birding award from the National Audubon Society. A gold hummingbird sitting perched atop a wooden base with a plaque that read "Winner of the 1938 hunt for the Amazonian Bomber." Under that it has the latin name; Patagonas Gigas. Linda cringed. The audacity it takes to name a magnificent bird, without considering what those who lived with it from antiquity ...

5 likes

From Now to Now

Submitted to Contest #256

I was spindly, wild and always hunting for that place in nature where no one could find me. Except, of course, the toadstool fairies and elves I loved hiding with. Ducking under the bushes in the backyard, I crawled into a semi-clearing around an old tree stump. My toadstool.Here I conversed with that world no one else seemed interested in. The translucent other side. The realm where loud words did not have to fall out of my mouth. I was simply and fully understood.Here even smells were translucent. Sun-warmed grass, breeze-blown thicket lea...

8 likes

Rebuilding

Submitted to Contest #243

Brown goo oozed through her toes. Drawing a fresh-smelling breeze in through her nose, she lifted her right foot while sprinkling straw with her left hand. Stomping down into the mud, Teyana smashed, squished and pummeled the straw, clay and earth mix onto the tarp with her feet.Without a word, Lucas stepped to the edge of her tarp. Teyana moved to the opposite side and together they folded the tarp in half and both of them jumped on top of it to further smash the mix down into a burrito-like mass."Ready!" Lucas announced to the group of chi...

8 likes

Reality Check

Submitted to Contest #240

Reality CheckDoes anyone really understand what “sustainable” actually means? Where do we go to get the “truth” about what our future is becoming? Are the ”Thought Leaders” abandoning us in their retreat into so-called “sustainable communities?” Is this a movement of people who are living within the so-called “privileged class” that will leave the 40-hour work week public behind - those who struggle enough just to pay all the bills - so they can act out their personal versions of “Survival of The Fittest?”Dr. Simon Michaux is working activel...

9 likes

As Light Replaced Darkness

Submitted to Contest #232

"Time to rise and shine" Jenna said to herself as she threw her covers back. She grabbed her pants from the floor and pulled them up her long legs. The air felt cold. Colder than usual. She poured herself a glass of water. Her stomach felt strange. Something was off. Glancing around her small trailer she tried to comprehend the body weirdness she was experiencing. The subtle anxiety grew. Jenna threw open the thin aluminum door. As her feet touched ground, her knees bent. Like a hunting cat she crouched, splaying her hands wide like antenna ...

8 likes

Friends of the Time/Light Continuum

Submitted to Contest #202

Kaden calmly plucked his ukelele. Each reverberating note started sounding all around them - suddenly - ZAP! An electric snap hit the air and another fly dropped out of the room. The sound of giant bowling balls rolling across the sky shook the windows. “Jack loves thunder.” He thought to himself. What he wasn’t thinking is how stunned Jack would be to witness him killing bugs with just the sound of his ukelele.Lightning flashed outside the window like burning plasma in space. Too bright to comprehend. A loud pounding on the ...

12 likes

Soundtrack to an Interlude

Submitted to Contest #199

Soundtrack to an Interlude"Strangers in the night... la dum dee dum dee, Feelin’ not quite right, as we were dancing..."The tune carried me into that strange trance I sometimes get. I was once again making up the words as I mumbled along. Fortunately, the moon was full, sitting low on the horizon like the great pumpkin Charlie Brown waits for on Halloween.Only it's August and quite warm.I listened to the night for a moment. A lonely dog, barking in the distance. The quiet hum of faraway traffic. The low buzzing of a nearby park lantern. Cric...

7 likes

Both My Mrs. Parrys

Submitted to Contest #198

Both My Mrs. Parrys When I was in kindergarten my teacher's name was Mrs. Parry. I loved Mrs. Parry. She would sometimes let me be the wake up fairy after nap time. Only those lying the most still could be woken up by being anointed on the forehead with the star on the end of the fairy’s wake-up wand. She also let us make pottery, although being the creative genius I was, I decided to make a copy of my pet rat, Mr. Spreckels, instead. He was splotched with blue and white, and I even got to put a glossy coat of glaze on hi...

10 likes

The Birth of Magic

Submitted to Contest #176

My hiding place is my home. That safe-from-the-world cave where I only venture out if I want or need to. Lately, this seems wise. Especially given the risk of infection. Or worse - being exposed to the views of those with which I may disagree. I was surprised to discover that when I witness the world from a perspective of being anchored inside my own heart - I see only magic unfolding all around me. This awareness led me to find ways to open up my journey in a way that expands my perspectives. To compensate for my inner her...

6 likes

Evolution

Submitted to Contest #174

Have you ever noticed that right there, embedded in the word evolution, are our human operating instructions? Those first four letters are the clue. Flip them around and you have the word love. Follow the word further, and from love, you also have volution. I love word-play. I love that volution means literally to be compelled forward. My dictionary calls it “a rolling or revolving motion.” If we are true to the instructions of the word evolution, we then have to admit that the word itself literally means love compelled forward, or love go...

17 likes