The Sun's Shadow

The Sun’s Shadow is a fiery poetry collection about becoming everything you were taught not to be.

In her lyrical debut, Jennifer McKay exposes the soft underbelly of a life shaped by perfectionism and people-pleasing. She writes,

"You're a coquette girl's slasher movie....
You’re a childhood bedroom
that nobody can get back to
even when they want to.

But you always leave the lights on, don’t you?"

These lines are meant to sting. But in the ache, you’ll find a hand to hold, too. These poems are forehead kisses, late-night bedroom cries, and little acts of rebellion for every burnt-out overachiever.

Along the way, McKay navigates identity, girlhood, neurodivergence, healing, and the possibility of self-acceptance, weaving sharp self-awareness and devastating tenderness into every line. For readers of Ada Limón, Sierra DeMulder, and Warsan Shire, this vivid, contemporary collection will speak to anyone who has ever lost themselves trying to be good.

Intimate and unflinching, The Sun’s Shadow is a breadcrumb trail back to the wild, real self you were never meant to lose.