Review
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Title: Eden Skin
Author: Keira Shae
Publisher: Push Publications
Genre: Poetry, Erotic Mormon Fiction
Year Published: 2025
Number of Pages: 139
Binding: Paper; Ebook
ISBN: 979-8989388431
Price: Paper, 7.99; Ebook 5.99
Reviewed by Andrew Hamilton for the Association of Mormon Letters
Shae had me hooked with the first full line in Eden Skin. The poem “Sacred Wild” begins by declaring, “Someone told me to stand in holy places; I think it is necessary to have wild spaces” (p. 3). Across the page from this is a black and white image of what appears to be a mountain lake with a very wild, imposing cliff in the background. From there, through the next 136 pages, the ride truly is wild and inspiring as Shae takes her readers on a journey of explored eroticism across the lifespan of women. By the time I reached the book’s end, I did indeed, as the end of the same poem declares, “Marvel at (my) place under the stars at night.”
This amazing little volume is the fourth book by Keira Shae, who is described by her author page as “a deaf and hard-of-hearing queer poet and writer in Salt Lake City, Utah.” I love every one of Shae’s books. Her first book, How the Light Gets In: A Memoir, published by the BCC Press, tells the story of how she grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in Provo, Utah, the abuse and challenges she faced, her time in foster care, and so much more. It’s beautiful, heart-rending, poignant, and engagingly narrated. It is an important book for a better understanding of Utah and Mormonism’s “Happy Valley.” Shae followed this up with her first novel, Cigarettes & Saints, and a related book of art and poetry titled Cigarettes & Saints: Poetry from the Novel. Read my full review of these amazing books here.
Eden Skin is a mixture of short stories, poetry, and art. The structure of the book takes you through the life cycle of a woman in chapters/sections titled “Maiden,” “Mother,” “Vixen,” and “Crone.” The eighteen works of art include a mixture of black and white sketches and artistic photographs.
There are twelve poems spread throughout the book. Their lengths and structures vary. They address the beauty and challenges of various relationships and life stages. I have touched on the opening poem. I found beauty in or learned from every verse. The closing poem, which wraps up the narrative of the book (there is a three-and-a-half-page recitation of a personal experience at the very end of the book), is called “Breathe.” For me, it carries much the same vibe as Pink Floyd’s song of the same name. It is an ode to the complexities of life and the passage of time, and is the perfect capstone to Shae’s explorations of the meaning of life and the study of women’s sexuality. As you read Eden Skin and finish its meditative journey to the last line, you too will contemplate how you embrace “the breath of life.
Section One, “Maiden,” contains five short stories. They are a mix of set in the past, mid-century, and present. The section “Mother” only has one story, which is set in the past. “Vixen” has two stories, both set in the present. “Crone” concludes the book with one longer story set in the present.
I want to highlight my two favorite stories. My favorites actually bookend the volume. The first story is “Anticipation”. Set in “the past,” it is the story of a young woman’s sexual awakening. Sexual interests and desires are very much a part of being human, but we Mormons are often lousy at discussing and writing about them. Shae very honestly and bluntly explores the feelings of a young lady coming to understand her body and its initial attractions and reactions to a young man that she is attracted to.
The final story in the volume, “Weaving,” is the book’s longest. Set in the “present-day,” “Weaving” is a first-person narrative of a woman with two teenage sons who loses her best friend to illness, followed by her husband in an accident. Shae is a DEEPLY insightful person. “Weaving” runs the emotional gamut. As the story progresses, it is moving, touching, mournful, insightful, and even heart-rending. If you have lost someone close, it may even be a little difficult to read, but I also found it very healing. Shae writes as a woman who has experienced loss. The main character expresses feelings and thoughts that are so very real.
The themes and meditations in Shae’s books explore important subjects and themes that Mormons are far too often afraid to broach. In her books, including Eden Skin, I have experienced eroticism and sexuality, beauty and darkness, pain and joy, distress and peace. It is hard to experience the full range of being human when we cut off an entire portion of our existence. I fully understand the Mormon desire to embrace Christian and Restoration teachings on chastity and morality. But even within those strictures, there is room to embrace, explore, and discuss the range and importance of eroticism and human sexuality. Shae has a unique gift for doing just that. Eden Skin is beautiful, insightful, and important. Its themes and topics need to be discussed by Latter-day Saints, and Shae presents them in a way that is inviting to read and opens the way for the conversation to be held.