camera indomita
to say this is overdue would be an understatement
at last, i am sharing my thesis book with the world! a big thanks to everyone who’s been patient with how long it took for me to ship these. i’m also dropping the PDF link at the end of this post.
camera indomita began with an ars poetica that was really about photography, but also very much spelled out my poetic/creative ethos. basically, i do all of this to cope. any time i am doing something creative, i am pulled by an insatiable urge to do so, and it’s often an act of healing. this led to creating what essentially served as a softer, more tender b-side to you stupid slut1: a sort of reckoning with alcoholism and untreated borderline personality disorder.
praise
“nat raum quotes Roland Barthes, ‘the photographer makes permanent the truth,’ but the poet’s own words are more confessional still—they merely ‘moonlight as truth-teller.’ In waking hours, their snapshots prefer to collect scars, trauma and sharpies and rum forming raum’s mixed-media exhibits of existence. camera indomita tells a version of a truth, but what its creator professes is a dissertation: the semiotics of self-flagellation.” —Andrew Daugherty, Editor of Black Flask Magazine
“nat raum’s camera indomita reads like a self-described dumpsterfire disaster sharpened by tarsmoke in february twilight. the poems are best viewed through the blank, unflinching void of an aperture as the image comes into focus: an intimate portrait of truths and trauma that make up personhood. raum solarizes memories for self-consumption only, captured similarly to the tone of lorde’s melodrama and pure heroine.” —tommy wyatt blake, author of NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL HORROR! and So, Who’s Courage?
“This collection makes use of a tender, yet valiant poetic reflection that leave the reader deeply entranced by a narrative that seeks to go beyond the page, and indeed, beyond the singular ruminations of the author. Instead, this collection seeks to be a body of work that grants the reader the chance to delve deeper into both the narrator and these intersecting facets and their impact on raum and others who may not be able to present their own perspectives, their own lived trials and tribulations.” —A.R. Arthur, Fahmidan Journal
selected works
you can find selected pieces from this book published in the following places:
“soliloquy for the gender spectrum” in en*gendered lit
“i forget where i read that suicidal people can’t see future consequences but i felt personally called out” and “a tumblr post says your highest self does things from love, not for love” in Eunoia Review
“& this is my secret work, to be worthy” in Welter — Fall 2023 Poetry Prize Winner
“affirmations for your borderline personality disorder” and “holistic guide to being agender in public” in Anti-Heroin Chic, Issue 33
“dream in which the bay swallows us” on the fifth wheel press blog
“pov: a commenter on your r/ptsdhumor post has just informed you that you have tinnitus” in manywor(l)ds, Issue 3
“on all levels except physical, i am baby” in Mister Magazine’s Mr. Web
“self-portrait as a minivan on fire” in Passengers Journal
“absolutely torqued” in Ghost City Review
“time is a construct” and “please lord, it is not my choice to exist in a body” with Boxx Press
“too many people in art school stressed the intimacy of a book” in Grub Street Literary Journal
“a photo bro asked me a patronizing question in 2016 & i am still thinking about it” in Split Lip Magazine
camera indomita can be purchased from me directly in print and digital formats.
you may have missed that unfortunately, my debut full-length is already out of print. it’s coming back, though!