DarkWinter Press New Release: The Self is an Ocean by Cypher!

DarkWinter Press is thrilled to announce our latest release, the incredible poetry collection The Self is an Ocean by Cypher, available now in paperback and e-version for Kindle. You can buy it here!

About The Self is an Ocean:

Cypher’s debut full-length poetry collection - The Self is an Ocean - is a poetic memoir rich with cultural commentary. Through striking metaphors and images, paired with a deeply musical writing style, this visceral collection delves into complex trauma, mental illness, womanhood, queerness, religion, culture, grief, and the search for meaning. Each poem here promises to crawl beneath the reader’s skin and unfold from the inside out.

Advance Praise for The Self is an Ocean:

“The Self is an Ocean is a manuscript about coming of age, Tamizh diasporic womanhood, and survivorship. Tracing a writer’s relationship to both craft and family, these poems move from trauma to resilience, from self-concept defined by one’s abuser to self-definition and reclamation. Weaving in and out of several core themes, the collection balances specificity of experience with emotional clarity, speaking to anger, grief, and the search for lineage and belonging. The ending feels like a new beginning—a hopeful turn toward survivorship and the work of being an artist.”

—Rayne Alarcio, author of Starving the Wolf (Bottlecap Press)

“Writer or woman? Person or poet? The two are impossible to untangle. Sruthi/Cypher writes with a pointed precision that will bring you face to face with the truth of human experience. Dark, rich, delicious and at times disturbing, the poems detail the deep inner world of an artist. If you have ever been curious about the shape of a soul (or rather, the weight of a life well lived), this gorgeous collection explores it in dazzling colour and clarity—bold and unashamed. Read it, and let it call you closer to your own humanity.”

—Arlo Yee, author of Lucid

“Cypher’s poetry collection, The Self is an Ocean, examines female identity forged by self and others. It is a deeply moving collection about physical and cultural identity, and finding your place within family and society. Sometimes sweet and savoury and sometimes sour and spicy, these are poems as much about pain and struggle as they are about resilience and living your truth. The reader is called to behold, envision, listen, inhale and savour—an invitation not to be ignored.”

—Emily De Angelis, author of the award-winning The Stones of Burren Bay (Latitude 46 Publishing)

About Cypher:

Cypher (she/her) is a self-taught brown and queer Tamizh diaspora writer living in Canada. Her writing is deeply musical, political, philosophical, and introspective. Cypher’s poems have been featured by the Wildscape Literary Journal, OTHERSIDE, FLARE Magazine, Livina Press, FeelsZine and several other publications. She works during the day as an engineer, and all her time outside of work is split between building community and creating art. Ideally both - simultaneously.