diff --git a/pqm b/pqm
index 8a8e54e..313a46d 100755
--- a/pqm
+++ b/pqm
@@ -479,9 +479,8 @@ class LocalSource(Source):
         """stdout and stderr of postcat; stdout is None if we got non-zero status"""
         if not re.fullmatch(r'[A-Z0-9]+', queue_id):
             return (None, f"Invalid queue id: {queue_id!r} - expected /[A-Z0-9]+/".encode())
-        flags_s = ' '.join(flags)
         res: subprocess.CompletedProcess = await trio.run_process(
-            ['/usr/sbin/postcat'] + list(flags_s) + ['-q', queue_id],
+            ['/usr/sbin/postcat'] + list(flags) + ['-q', queue_id],
             capture_stdout=True,
             capture_stderr=True,
             check=False,