30 Under 30 25/30: Stevie Edwards

‘His body, a throne
       I bow down to--

He knows this: power
       begins with knowing

you can beget the loaves
       and the fishes from

your leftovers, that each miracle
       is yours.’
-from The Diplomat

What can’t this womyn do? it might seem odd to put the editor of Muzzle on this list, but when I had no clue where I was going to post these entries, I knew that I was going to write about Stevie Edwards. Besides being the Editor-in-Chief of one of the flyest literary magazines out, she is a writer who is leading us into new explorations of desire and human emotions that we have never seen. Stevie’s work is guided by her needs, which are complex in their mannerisms, but clear in their aims. They are allowed to sink their teeth into the world and flesh, able to suckle and delight and devour, but not always without question. Stevie is a critical writer of the world and of self, able to dissect and rebuild the subject and the reader in the span of a poem. In the same poem where she uses the pen as a wand to summon the body’s wants, she can transform it into a pick to chisel away at the structures of humanity, the foundations of our innermost emotions and sensibilities. Stevie also has a knack for being silly in poems. I have laughed out loud in real life, not just in the text word. I have blushed and hid my face from the wit and raw heat that radiates from the page. Stevie is doing the work to actualize the whole human in her work and I am here for it. Her work spans subjects & styles, but always resounds with honesty, brilliant language, great meter, and an urgency that drives you to read more. If you are already here at Muzzle, you might already know, but if not? Get in.


-Danez Smith

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