Founded in the fall of 1991, Laurel Moon is Brandeis' oldest, national literary publication. Each issue we publish features original work from undergraduate students.
After C.T. Salazar
Ankle atrocity appendix arch absence of an Adam’s apple
Blood belly brain breasts bitemarks breastbone burns
cuticles clitoris the coroner stops to smoke a cigarette
Dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead
ear and earlobe eyeball eyelash eyelid quivers in the cold
Finger fallopian tube her freckled face like paint splatter
Groin gullet groan glow grinning grasp
Her heel her hands her hips her hair her heat
I can no longer speak can no longer feel I am no longer I his
Jaw jammed against my jugular
Kidney and kneecap kiss before he again begins to count
Labia lung lip liver loins lobes lust or is it love?
Muscle memory mammary glands mouth with missing molar
neck nipple navel in a nervous system like a city gone dark he
Opens the dead girl to reveal ovaries organs an occipital lobe
Public display of pubic bone the plague her pupil no pulse
Quiet
Ribcage red blood cells retina and the leftover light within
Says she starved sinew spine spit sex sweat salt
Teeth tongue thighs throat tear ducts a comforting tightness
Umbilical cord uvula unearthly whispers under the skin
Vagina vocal cords violence after violence her vulgar vulva
Wisdom teeth wrists womb louder and louder whispers
X-rayed flayed all that’s left is the exoskeleton
You have capsized her youth turned it to whispers
My gentle zombie do you believe now a zookeeper is the hardest thing to be?