clamshell - nat raum

clamshell

i pluck a clamshell off
the beach in stardew valley.
the popup tells me

someone lived here once

and suddenly i envy all
creatures with shells for skin,
how their outsides exist

so separately from their actual
beings and how easily

they move along
after outgrowing it.

Originally published by good luck have fun press

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