Karin Mabry

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2020

Stories (12)

12 Stories

275 karma pts

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“Be With Me” by Karin Mabry

There are no positives to be found in fighting. When I was growing up, there was a saying that you “don’t fight for peace, you don’t have sex for virginity”. I fought my Dad and his belief that absolutely no one in the American workforce, at the time or at any time, actually wants to work. No one. I fought my Mom when I found out that it wasn’t just the Catholic Church that thought that women were second-class citiz...

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“Seriously, thanks, a lot!” by Karin Mabry

Thanks, a lot, for having access to every thing modern medicine and alternative medicine have to give but not succeeding in making it work for you. All I can think is that you must have drunk an awful lot of coffee, as you somehow got yourself a coffee shop for twenty years, one you hung onto with both hands, come hell or highwater. What do I know, though? The ex-best friend, who was deemed unfit to let to stay indoors, in your house, when you left the country. The betrayal, woman, woman corpse. I have no one to talk to about this. No one...

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“One” by Karin Mabry

Yes, I took the diamond from the museum. Yes, it was me, I took it. No, I am not going to tell you where it is, just know that I know. Why did I take it? You don’t even answer, the question is so stupid. You have so many other things you would rather be doing. Are we done here, you ask, can I go home now? Ha, you chuckle to yourself, thinking that if you don’t make yourself smile these days, no one else is going to. You ...

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“Will You?” by Karin Mabry

You waited to ask her until you were sure. There were many before her who seemed perfect on paper, but were train wrecks in real life. Some people talk the talk very well but don’t walk the walk with any authority, letting life happen to them instead of being in the driver’s seat of their existence. You are not one of those people and neither is she. There is no time in the day when you are not aware of what is going on ...

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“Late For Work, Again” by Karin Mabry

You are late to work again. You put your suitcase in Deborah’s office and find an apron, realizing it was getting harder and harder to care about a worthless job. The mind-numbingness of so many jobs is truly stupefying to you. The only way you have found around the agreed upon system of accepting unnatural work as natural is a life of no responsibility. No one counts on you, it is only you who is mildly discomforted sho...

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“Demanding Art” by Karin Mabry

Pick up the pen. Do it. I swear to God...good. Now stop thinking about the neighbors, stop thinking about traffic or weather or bills. Stop. I didn’t say do it, I said stop. Those kids running around upstairs are not that loud. Artillery is loud, little feet are not loud. Would you call yourself ‘focused’? No? Well, no, this is not the time to put yourself down, acting like life isn’t temporary. Stop. Stop, damnit. God, ...

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“Help Is On the Way” by Karin Mabry

I can’t feed myself in the manner to which I had become accustomed. I know that sounds petty and bourgeois but it is the reality of my life. I had grown used to the dairy-free lifestyle that included butter on hot garlic knots, those fresh little ringlets of home cooking, so comforting as they helped eased the soul, worried about the future. I liked my tempeh browned, almost crispy and my thin, green spears of asparagus organic, of course. I liked berry kombucha, whichever was on sale, boring pretzels when I had to snack and maybe an appl...

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“First Me, Then Us” by Karin Mabry

Back in 2079, a big shift happened in the outlining of our states in this country. Since hardly anyone lived around family anymore, it didn’t make sense to live near people who didn’t agree with you in your basic philosophies of life. The idea of keeping civil peace became so important that where you called home became a crystal-clear indicator of the beliefs your dearly-held beliefs. Gun advocates lived in states with other gun lovers, anti-abortionists lived among their believers while Jesus followers gladly called each other neighbor.<...

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“Finders Keepers” by Karin Mabry

Everyone I see on social media seems to have a better life than I do. When I was in my 20’s, there was no known way of seeing how someone lived their life unless you were physically there to see it. Therefore, all the people in one’s world were in a state of suspended animation in the mind of others. If you were happy and doing well in December of one year, everyone thought of you as happy and doing well whenever they thought about you. There was no proof of the opposite like there is now, or, in my case, lack of proof.I don’t want...

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“Have a Seat” by Karin Mabry

I had lived in my house for over ten years and thought I knew every inch of it. Walking down the wooden staircase, my body knows the sounds of the creaking wood like I know the motion of my breath, no surprises. When the wind picks up or rain falls, my house groans with acceptance and I hear it, I know its devoted strength. The sun streaming onto my breakfast nook is like a goddess shining her blessings on what I am doing with my life. My bathtub has praised me as well, my yard loving the pressure of my feet against it’s face. My home is ...

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“A Facelss Voice” by Karin Mabry

“Hey, are you there?”  Roger called out, hopefully. Wishing he would go away, not in the mood to deal with him, I say nothing. Roger knows I am home as I am always home. We both know that if I don’t answer, he will ask again, every 15 minutes, until I relent.“Yes, I’m here.”Before the government made everyone stop working and stay home all day, Roger and I had never spoken. When transience, a once deplorable quality in a person, became rampant in my neighborhood, I quit trying to get to know my neighbors. It wasn’t...

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“Buskin” by Karin Mabry

Orion woke up first although I usually do. He can’t be quiet when he is excited. He is so happy to wake me up, he stifles cried of joy as I rise from slumber. I try to keep his environment somewhat predictable to help him feel calm but things are not exactly stable around here. I never know who I am going to be from one day to the next. Literally. Mom makes me tell people I have a  different name and told me to keep track of who knew me as what name. It was an impossible task but I told her I had it down. I used to be a...

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Author bio

I am a writer/poet living in Memphis with my husband and our dogs and trees and birds and books.