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
I write to invoke, to process, to honor, to resurrect, and—sometimes—to grieve but, above all, I write to be free.
Follow along for stories about a little bit of everything (i.e. nostalgia and other affairs of the heart).
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Top insights
Excellent storytelling
Original narrative & well developed characters
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
Compelling and original writing
Creative use of language & vocab
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Comments (14)
Somehow you turned a stream of consciousness poem into social commentary and the dark night of the soul. I love that you used the stones that Virginia Woolf used to drown herself as the means of this journey into the depths! Congratulations on placing in the challenge! Richly deserved!
That is a LOT of wowness! Glad that this was shortlisted. Congratulations RC!
Congratulations on placing in the challenge. This piece is amazing.
Was so pleased for you! Congrats on placing for this magnificent piece, RC! Well deserved!
Wooohooooo congratulations on your win! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
This is amazing! Congrats!! 🎉🎊🎈
congrats! amazing entry and well deserved runner up
omg! so amazing! sad and tragic and beautiful ... and so incredible! 🩷 and the final line is chilling! (Also how did you get the down down down bit to be like that? Every time I try to play with formatting it just resets itself when published!)
This is so sad and incredibly well written.
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. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻