issue #1: musical golden shovels

breaking loose

29 April 2026

i didn’t notice strictures until i could move my legs again; there was

something in the shape, in

the weight, the stupor of a full metal jacket, concrete over bloom

and weed alike, impossibly rigid until

forcefully ripped up, and at first i recoiled at the sight of sunlight, then met

the chance to thrive without you.

Notes

After “Flip” by Glass Animals.

about the author

nat raum is a disabled artist, writer, editor, and genderless disaster based on unceded Piscataway and Susquehannock land in Baltimore. Past and upcoming publishers of their writing include Split Lip Magazine, Poetry.onl, Baltimore Beat, Poet Lore, beestung, and others. Find them online at natraum.com.