THREE POEMS by NAT RAUM
free & for sale (iso wholeness)
hi everybody i am looking for the things
i think are missing inside me because
that’s what everyone else cited as my fatal
flaw: not enough. of what? i don’t really know
what i’m looking for but i’m open to learning,
from everyone and anyone who looks my way,
exactly what is wrong with me. hit me
up if you can help with something like this
and we’ll make it work.
free & for sale (selling shame)
i am selling the shroud that falls
upon me when i should be embarrassed—
it served me well, but i don’t think need it
anymore. great used condition; well-loved,
but a lot of life left. taking up space on the
shelf next to a secret agent barbie CD-ROM.
pickup only, please? my body isn’t broken down
just yet, but i’m planning for the day when
i creak like a floorboard and screech like a muffler
skimming the speed bumps on my street.
free & for sale (yard sard)
this friday afternoon i will be under
a sycamore in the park outside
of my apartment with a variety of things
i’ve convinced myself to part with, including:
jingle bell stick, flamingo painting,
flat half-consumed ginger beer,
a Razzy Bailey record, half the candles
on my coffee table, everything that came
with Kinder eggs, two mini cacti, expired
canned beets, a drawing of a sinister
blob i never gave my ex, and maybe
an overshare if you talk to me nice enough.
nat raum (b. 1996) is a disabled artist, writer, and genderless disaster from Baltimore, MD. They’re a current MFA candidate at the University of Baltimore and also hold a BFA in photography and book arts. nat is also the editor-in-chief of fifth wheel press and managing editor of Welter Journal, as well as the author of preparatory school for the end of the world, you stupid slut, and specter dust. Past and upcoming publishers of their writing include Olney Magazine, perhappened, CLOVES, and trampset. Find them online: natraum.com/links.