‘Snow Drops’ retells ‘The Snow Queen’ through the lens of butch-femme relationships . . .
. . . and femme invisibility. While the gender-ambiguous nature of Kay’s name gives the story easy potential to be retold as a dyke romance, it’s the wealth and power aspects of the piece – the lawless bandit princess; the difference between Gerda’s tenement and the Queen’s palace – that make it fit the working-class history of butch-femme culture so well. It speaks ‘Imbolc’ to me because of spring’s connection to hope and returning life but, equally, because of Gerda’s Maidenhood – her personal coming-of-age and her connection with all things flowering.
–
Snow Drops
One look into that unforgiving mirror
Miz Frost’s Park Avenue life and
Kay feels shabby in her frayed jeans
thrift-store t-shirts
studded rainbow belt
So easy to wrap the young stud ‘round her finger
Easier still to wrap her in white fur, white noise, white satin sheets
til she forgets summer sangria
swiss chard and
roses blooming on a Forest Hills balcony
til she is all white ties and tails
all world-weary enuie and good white wine
no spark of her old self to be called home
Still Gerda girds her loins
knowing she can take Kay back
or leave her
in that pristine winter palace
Knowing that there’s more at stake
than one long-healed heart
Mortal girl wrapped in the mantle of Spring
her threadbare parka
overflows with crocuses
daffodils
saskatoon blossoms
flowers that survive the frost
no shrinking violet herself
not anymore
not after the bathhouse
not after the squat
the gutterpunk princess
who could throw a stiletto
and a punch
the aging auntie in the rent-controlled apartment
tending her tropical blossoms
with manicured nails
they taught her a thing or two about femme fire
Now she walks with her head high
hips swinging
Now she sashays up the winter-bound drive
snow melting under her
daisy-print boots
lips as red as summer
sangria and roses
–
Allison Armstrong
is a polyamourous queer femme kitchen-witch and animist. She lives with her wife in Ottawa, Canada, where she writes erotica, runs the Voices of Venus women’s poetry showcase, and gardens whenever possible. Her work has appeared in Bywords Quarterly, Venus in Scorpio, and The Floating Bridge Review.
hyacinth noir 