Bedroom Disco
By Cypher
With the lights off, and the fabric of my pajamas
dripping from my body, I carve myself
a pocket of peace. A place
whose heartbeat is a dance-pop melody,
whose skin is a club floor speckled with neon lights,
whose moon is a disco ball, silver and bright.
In this place,
the puppet strings of song pull up and down my legs and arms,
slap my bare feet to the drum’s steady beat,
and make goosebumps climb the staircase of my spine.
My body, doused in sweat, has
doused out the flames of time.
I am only here.
I am alive.
A Woman Made Mannequin
By Cypher
I stand before my bedroom mirror,
and begin to change.
I slip into a turtleneck and a long skirt, both black
to slim the frame and smoothen the curves.
I style this darkness with a colourful cloak,
cloaking the nerves. Disguise
in the name of self-expression.
I stack my body with necklaces, earrings.
I set my face with strong reds, soft pinks.
I balance myself with bold and benign -
a line I’ve tightroped time and time
again. I stand before my bedroom mirror
one last time, ensuring I seem seamless,
and with that,
I see myself off.
Cypher
Sruthi Amalan (pen name ‘Cypher’) is a self-taught brown and queer Tamil diaspora poet living in Canada. Her work has been featured by the Ontario Poetry Society and is set to appear in the Canadian Syncopation Literary Journal, Queer Gaze Mag and Arcana Poetry Press. Sruthi has many interests besides writing, including reading, drawing, and creating graphic designs. In her spare time, she loves to watch local music and theatre performances, spend time with her father and brother, and play board games with her friends. Sruthi released her first poetry collection, ‘Where the Clay Meets the Flame,’ in February 2024.
Photo credit: Aron Visuals
Apricot Press 