boo’d off the stage - nat raum

After Mario Party 6

shame was taught to me by experience

around the time i was swallowed by a ghost,

blushing at the slightest hint of disappointment

in a lover’s voice. how could i—how dare i,

really—hold myself in such high regard when

there’s so much wrong with me? i lived in that

spectral belly until i was almost twenty-five,

lungs thick with the mists of disdain directed

at myself alone. but i came to await sunrise

after nights spent thrashing under the quilt

of horrors i sewed for myself over the years,

for the ghosts seem to scatter at daybreak.

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nat raum (b. 1996) is a disabled artist, writer, and genderless disaster from Baltimore, MD. They’re the editor-in-chief of fifth wheel press, as well as the author of you stupid slut, the abyss is staring back, random access memory, and several chapbooks. Find them online: natraum.com/links.