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The Days On Which Trans Women (I) win

By Zuggie Tate

Added: Tuesday, March 31, 2026  /  Used with permission. This poem was first published in "Shade Literary Arts." The text is available online at shadeliteraryarts.org.
Zuggie Tate

Zuggie Tate (she/her) is a poet and spoken word artist from Cleveland, Ohio with a BA in Sociology from Case Western Reserve University. Her work is rooted in her intersectional identity as a Black, Trans, Larger-Bodied, Poverty-Born Woman living with invisible disabilities. Through her poetry, Zuggie seeks to celebrate, center, and affirm Black Trans Women while inviting the broader community and audiences into empathy, re-education, and acceptance.

Zuggie’s work has appeared in Black Midwest Anthology, Wasteland Review, Exposed Bone Lit Mag, Shade Literary Arts, and Verum Literary Press. She is the recipient of Margie Hope’s 2023 Living Heritage Award for her advocacy and poetry addressing Trans issues. A fellow at Twelve Literary Arts, Assembly of the Arts, Lambda Literary, and The Watering Hole, she has also participated in workshops hosted by Torch Literary Arts, Flash in the Pan!, and Deathrattle Press. In 2023, she was voted Cleveland Scene’s No. 2 Poet and has performed at venues such as the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Public Theatre, and Heights Arts. She has also been invited to be a panelist at Literary Cleveland’s 2024 Inkubator Conference. In 2025, Zuggie was awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize’s Verge Fellowship, the Literary Cleveland’s Amplify Fellowship, and was a Lambda Literary Fellow.

In a world that often seeks to erase our existence, Zuggie’s work serves as a reminder of the power and resilience of Black Trans Women, of our ability to create beauty out of pain, and forge paths of liberation for ourselves and future generations.

Image Description: Zuggie, a plus-sized Black Trans Women, wears arm-length box braids and a black dress with a floral pattern. She holds an award plank for receiving the 2023 Living Heritage Award for Margie's Hope.

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