Pink Elephant

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 Gonzalez

"Rachel McKibbens' debut is fierce and fearless, confronting taboos with a macabre irony and a sarcastic laugh. McKibbens has developed a unique style for wordplay, a wry sense of humor, a voice full of wide-eyed detail, and a maternal wisdom to survive the hellish landscapes of womanhood."
- Regie Cabico

'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

About the Author

Rachel McKibbens was born in Anaheim, CA. She is a member and co-founder of the Right Coast Writers Brigade. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including World Literature Today, The New York Quarterly and Bowery Women: Poems. Among other honors, she is a New York Foundation of the Arts Poetry Fellow, a Pushcart nominee, and the 2009 Women's Individual World Poetry Slam champion. She has read her work at universities, schools, galleries and various other venues across the nation. She teaches poetry and creative writing across the country at all levels. An ex-punk rock chola with five children, she lives in upstate New York. Pink Elephant is her first book.