Skin & Sun

by Key Ballah

Skin and Sun is a book of poems directed at healing and reclaiming the self. Through an exploration of womanhood, love, space, and the conversation between the three, Key Ballah takes you on a journey through her processes of healing trauma and returning to what she calls "the self".

Genres: Poetry

158 pages, Paperback

Published February 19, 2016

Reviews

[M. Ainomugisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Key Ballah, fills our spirits yet again with writings of love, of oceans, of decolonization and of ancestry.

[Rim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this. Not just Muslims, not just immigrants, not just people of color, not just women. Humans. Every human should read this.

At one point I realized that tabbing this book was too much work. I chose a poem or a quote to tab on almost every page and I realized that I actually just wish to remember this book in its entirety.

Skin and Sun can be described in so many words but my favorite is: powerful. Everything about the poems in here is power in its purest form, the power of a true Muslim feminist woman of color. It is incredible how personal and relatable each of these poems feel when they were written by someone other than myself.

Honestly the only problem I have with this book is the many spelling mistakes.

[Autumn Aurelia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me start by saying how much I dislike giving such low ratings, but this book disappointed me so much. Secondly, I absolutely adore Key Ballah's first book, Preparing my Daughter for Rain, but this book felt like it was by a different writer entirely.

Negatives:
- So much repetitive language.
- One of the poems offended me deeply for its take on women who have lived through sexual abuse.
- So many cliches.
- The collection, in general, felt rushed and mismatched.

Positives:
- A few stand out lines.

[Felecia Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you find something so personal and so beautiful, you have to savor every word and that's what I did with this.

[Miss Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

the not love poems made me sad but the refugee ones made me tear up

4 stars

[Colleen Samura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Key Ballah earned a place in my heart with her first work, Preparing My Daughter For Rain. I have yet to read a better book of contemporary poetry, until now. Skin & Sun is an equally amazing follow up to Preparing My Daughter For Rain. The spirituality, the maturity, the intensity of feeling; this is a masterful and emotional collection of poems that speak resoundingly of the beauty and devastation of life.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite poetry collections. The poems are well-crafted and beautiful.