Founded in the fall of 1991, Laurel Moon is Brandeis' oldest, national literary publication. Each issue we publish features original work from undergraduate students.
My mother is a preserver
descended from survivors
who ruminate too much—
always overly concerned
with the notion of safety
She hoards dusty jars
of sundried dreams—
the crusted knuckles
and gnarled fingers of
jaundiced ginseng roots
which point the way
to attaining a long life
Old cookie tins mislead us kids
There are no butter-cookies
Instead we find old, powdery fruits—
prunes of peace and prosperity
When (if) I grow older
I don’t want to inherit
the dowry of dead wives
or the odor which comes from
years of bearing sundried dreams
Some fruits don’t belong
under covers of cookie tins
Some fruits taste better fresh
picked from the bending branch
I’m a coward but also
a raving revolutionary
Undefined by what
a family name carries
Let me run on pure ecstasy
in my fresh, white Nikes
With no desire to return home
let’s stay here and roam
in these lands outside—
free to be forever youthful
Warren Situ is a junior at Carleton College. He is studying philosophy and also intends to minor in creative writing. Warren's favorite form of creative writing is poetry. Aside from writing poetry, he also performs stand-up comedy for the Queens of Comedy group at Carleton.