Coming Soon

Founded in 2005, Cypher Books, a New York City-based, independent publisher is proud to present Pink Elephant, the new collection of poetry from Rachel McKibbens. Consistent with Cypher's mission to publish innovative and necessary poetry, McKibbens' collection is a beautifully crafted, emotionally searing poems depicting the fractured mythology of a family’s tumultuous life. Picking up where Plath and Sexton have left off, McKibbens threatens the comfortable confines of confessional poetry with a take-no-prisoners surrealist and super-real edge. By creating a folklore out of brutality and violence (borne from misplaced or absent love) McKibbens ultimately locates both love and forgiveness, fearlessly placing them in their rightful home. McKibbens’ Pink Elephant is an audacious debut.

Praise

“Pink Elephant is the white elephant in the room blushing into visibility, and Rachel McKibbens is a poet of unparalleled, unflinching honesty. With the tenacity of a survivor’s “love-sharp teeth,” McKibbens confronts the trauma of girlhood/ womanhood —“the malicious thunder of it”— and gives the “inaudible song of happiness” a palpable, perceptible shape. This book is startling testimony and it will bruise the touch of all those who dare to turn its relentless pages.”
— Rigoberto González

 

"It is a triumph to harness so much emotion with such skill and clarity of voice. McKibbens' poems will "become a (golden) worm in the heart of all she leaves behind."
— Michael Cirelli

 

“Reading this book is like watching tiny horses trapped in a tornado; beautifully disturbing.”
— Mike Stilkey, who donated his artwork for the cover of Pink Elephant

LEARN MORE > 

[^]