Andy Winter (she/her/they/them) is a poet, performer, witch & entity. She is an ice queen of non-binary & trans experience from sunny Singapore, now based in London. Her works have appeared in Stellium, Strange Horizons, EnbyLife and beestung amongst others. She was a '22 Lambda Literary Poetry Fellow. Find her chilling at whispersinwinter.wordpress.com

the stiletto poem: a ‘sharpened’ duplex

andy winter

In the hands of a queen,
a poem is a stiletto.

My poems are stiletto nails
growing like crystal claws

in the dark. I crystallised my glowing
heart into a sharp object.

I love playing with sharp objects,
feeling the edges where a word or line

break cuts deep. Wordlessly edging,
I bring all the bad boys to heel.

What makes a good heel?
Nothing less than eight inches

Nothing more powerful in chess
than a queen & her middle finger to fate.