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Amanda Parkyn finds that writing combines well with her passion for gardening. She has recently published a pamphlet ‘Skin’, a poem sequence set in South Africa during and post-apartheid, her memoir of 1960’s Rhodesia will be published in mid-2012.
It’s new to me, this closeness to skin
not black, but rather many shades
of brown I can’t describe. Warm
under my fingers there’s a strength,
a bred-in-the-bone resilience
to her flesh, revealing mine pale
and scrawny as plucked chicken.
The camera’s set but here, indoors,
it can’'t cope with us together. Its reflex flash
will bleach me to a wraith, plunge her
featureless into dark shadow. We’ll move
into the garden, where by natural light
we’ll get a better likeness, as we stand
ready, with our linked arms,
our surprised smiles.
1 Church Farm Close
Penkridge
Staffs
ST19 5LY
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