"Rhubarb Confessions" by Ruby Luhrman

Photo by alleksana on Pexels

Girlhood lives in the
cracked window panes
and the torn notebook pages
in the broken drawers
with the baby blanket remnants.

She lives in the
chiming of church bells
and the perfume of blueberries
picked fresh from the bush.

In the abyss of girlhood
it smells like rotten fruit.
The walls are painted red and
the floor is covered with
love letters and lighters.

Girlhood lives in her filth.
Pallid skin underneath piercing eyes,
rolling waves of honeysuckle hair
fall like a halo around her haunting face.

She motions to you
extending graceful arms
with nails coated in gloss
the color of midnight.

Her voice is a melancholic
rhubarb rasp over a vanilla husk.
She pulls you in
with her silky sound and her glowing exterior.

In her, you can see

The wildflowers that grow
on the side of the highway.

Creamy paper with
roughly cut edges
covered in plum lipstick kisses
and words scrawled with desperation
when the stars were out.

Girlhood is in the delicate parts
but it’s also in the painful ones.
The ones that sit like rocks
in the pit of your stomach
and slice your cheeks
with razor sharp tears.

Ruby Luhrman is 16 years old; she lives in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and she attends Waynflete School in Portland, Maine. Ruby states that she has loved writing and reading ever since she was little. When she is not reading or writing, she is probably spending time with her friends, family, and cat. “Poetry,” Ruby writes, “has been such a liberating force through the trials and tribulations of growing up.”