Virginia Woolf Stones
when I gave away my power, I sank
my dreams were high in the sky, fingertips brushing the tails of
the shooting stars they tried to catch before you kept filling their
pockets with Virginia Woolf stones and that's when they sank down
⠀⠀
down
⠀
past cloud nine candy floss they once ate happily while laughing
with their friends, carnival lights prism reflecting off their smile
⠀
past gentle rain that bathed their skin with soft, wet baptism, piano
melody played delicately on them by freshwater pianist fingers
⠀
down
⠀
past the red balloon they comforted that a little girl had let go of in
the grocery store parking lot after her mom warned her to hold tight
⠀
down
⠀
past figure eights they used to loop around tall skyscrapers, happy
that they were finally rising, rising, rising, breathless as with life
⠀⠀
down
⠀
past treetops where they lost some of them along the way because like
boosters on a rocket they couldn't take all of them when they first rose
⠀
down
⠀
past the tide that rocked them to and fro, shooshing them as if they
were a babe again as they said goodbye to sky, returning to the womb
⠀⠀
down
⠀
past the magnets that they used to stick on Davy Jones' locker when
they were just a young girl still figuring themselves out, clueless
⠀
down
⠀
my dreams
⠀
down
⠀
sank far
⠀
down
⠀
into Mariana Trench
⠀
down
⠀
where creatures never discovered wondered past them in welcoming
at the utter brilliance and beauty of their bioluminescence that was not
appreciated by you. they kept sinking down
⠀down
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀down
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀down
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀down
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀down
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀down
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀until the pressure alone killed them.
About the Creator
R.C. Taylor
Part-time daydreamer. Full-time dork.
Follow along for stories about a little bit of everything (i.e. adventure, nostalgia, and other affairs of the heart, and anything else I want to honor and hold space for).
Reader insights
Outstanding
Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
Top insights
Excellent storytelling
Original narrative & well developed characters
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
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A minute. Sixty seconds to say goodbye. That’s all the time that I had left with him as the needle slid into his leg. I stared into his drooping eyes, looked at the blood-tainted saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth. They said that this was the best thing that we could do for him, a last kind act for a best friend…but if that were the case, then why did my heart feel so heavy?
By Stephanie Hoogstad7 days ago in Fiction
Comments (5)
Great job congratulations
Wow. That's incredible. Well done
So very heartbreakingly sad, but incredibly beautifully written! So much skill in pace, word choice and brevity at work here. Well done!
Wow. That last line hits hard in the most perfect way. Really beautifully done.
Wow, RC, this is incredibly powerful, and so so sad. I feel the wrenching away of those dreams, and their will to survive despite everything. What an amazing contemplation on what happens to dreams when we let them go. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻