Poetry By nat raum

David Hudson CC




affirmations for your borderline personality disorder
After China Rain


i have control over my emotions
i am not afraid of abandonment
i am capable of healing. i love 
myself for who i am. i am not 
what others think of me. i share 
my feelings with honesty & courage.
i have control over my emotions
i can see the ways people love me
i am enough. i am not angry. i am 
not empty. i sit with my impulses
before acting on them. i am doing 
my best. i am a changed person.
i bring positivity to my relationships.
i am loveable. i am allowed 
to struggle. i am allowed to cry.
i have control over my emotions.
i persevere through great difficulties.
i have survived the worst days
of my life. i am more than my trauma.
i challenge my negative thoughts
with positive ones. i am calm 
& confident. i have control 
over my emotions.

​



holistic guide to being agender in public


find yourself at an intersection
of two things you can’t quite name,
but trust me, neither can anyone
else. no one can seem to fathom
this thing & yet it will never be

a source of wonder, only something
else to forget about. we’re talking
about your transness, or maybe
the way you are still rapt with that 
word, unsure it really should 

apply to you, that you are really
afforded these divine sort of laurels. 
but don’t sit in the splendor for too long--
you are likely the only person on this 
street corner who can see it. 

& honestly? fuck ‘em. if they want
to look at the kind of sunset you get 
to witness maybe ten times a year 
& only see the body of a woman,
they don’t deserve you.


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nat raum (b. 1996) is a disabled artist, writer, and genderless disaster based on unceded Piscataway land in Baltimore. They’re an MFA candidate and also the editor-in-chief of fifth wheel press. Past publishers of their work include Delicate Friend, Corporeal Lit, and ANMLY. Find them online: natraum.com/links