Ruby’s Bar Graph
Ruby inserts Justin Timberlake’s photo behind the creaky plastic window in her wallet, so each time she opens it, she can hear him singing God must’ve spent a little more time on you. She memorizes his birthday (1/31/81), favorite color (baby blue), favorite word (crunk), and parents’ names (Lynn and Charles Randall). During study hall, Ruby makes a bar graph of how much time God has spent on her classmates, where x = hours and y = beauty. On you on you on you, you, Justin sings, lifting his arm to point at her.
Lisa Low
published in Waxwing
Ruby’s Bar Graph
Lisa Low
what it means
A Junior High girl has a crush on a teen idol. She uses the crush to enhance her self image.
The route to loving ourselves is not always smart or good.
We all need to find a way to love ourselves.
why I like it
All the concrete banal details crack me up, and I believed them.
I suppose you want me to say something wise about why this works as a prose poem and what actually a prose poem is, but I’m stumped. I don’t know why we’d call this a prose poem and not a mini-story for instance. It doesn’t matter to me. No matter what, the final image slays me every time. My heart beats a little faster, and I start to cry when Justin points to her.
I happen to like poems that are plain spoken and easy to read while still packing an emotional wallop.
craft
I love that this is a story poem not an “I” poem. That distance gives me room to hate and love Ruby a little more. I have no idea if Low made Ruby up, but I hope so. I imagine her pulling details from her own life and the heart wrenching agony of being a preteen to create Ruby.
Low is being very careful with syntax. Every sentence is a different music.