Founded in the fall of 1991, Laurel Moon is Brandeis' oldest, national literary publication. Each issue we publish features original work from undergraduate students.
he whispers in a seductive, lilting twang.
i laugh at its shaking tail then,
my frail ego lapping up his
warmth––made with love––resuscitating
me enough to pull the mask
(Hopeless Romantic)
back over my shuddering face.
love is like a rattlesnake.
what does that mean? i whisper
at him in the dark.
love is like a rattlesnake, he hisses back,
warm hands slithering down my sides,
snaking up my shirt,
the other down my thigh, i hiss:
i’m his. no venom, no cure, no need
for it when his tongue can soothe and coax my bleeding
punctures closed, coil up inside my
soul, jaw unhinged, teeth
sharp, dragging down my
thoughts as they graze my
throat. i hiss
harder, deeper
in its tightening hold, sigh heavy
as he coils
me
tighter
and
tighter,
its cutting
edges––
silver
slivers,
gilded
scales––
posed for the hissing kill,
fangs sitting, jaw unhinged, at my
smooth porcelain
jugular, yet still
warning: stay
away;
love is like a rattlesnake;
before it bites it tries to warn you,
slithering limbs snaking, coiling, tightening around me though i like the danger that’s why i fall quickly ‘cause i like the feeling of the wind in my hair and the sting in my eyes before crashing into sunburnt concrete and i crave the sharp inescapable engulfing feeling of the pierce of a venomous fang that breaks skin and dyes it the deepest red and turns insides out and turns and turns them out and out and out ‘til i barely hear its split-second hissing warning of attack and it sneaks up on me and i barely hear the rattling plea that
barges through me a
silent scream and
it happens so fast and
it’s coming and
he’s coming and i
deaf and dripping venom
see him now,
soaked
in my
deepest
red
heat, his
sharpened
grin
well-
fed,
and that is how
he has now
left me.
*inspired by the song “Rattlesnake” by Jack Van Cleaf
Leah Breskal is a sophomore at Brandeis University from Los Angeles, CA studying Creative Writing, English, Secondary Teacher Education, and Music. She’s been writing poetry and short fiction for as long as she can remember and is overjoyed to be involved in Laurel Moon as a layout editor, writer, and editor.