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Skinny-dipping<\/strong><\/p>\n Naked, unseen and alone; a belligerent bullfrog, I squat Step by step, I enter my element at a somnambulist\u2019s pace. As my knees, thighs and groin disappear beneath the flow, And now I\u2019m eel; sleek, black and muscle-packed, writhing. Craving caresses, I swim through the silky sensuality of these Envious of fish, my lungs wrung dry, I rise and inhale. Then Finally, gagging on the churning swell, my strength waning, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Richard Biddle<\/strong> teaches Creative Writing at Chichester College. His poetry been published online and in the journals: Urthona, Brittle Star<\/em> and Dream Catcher.<\/em> It has also appeared in several anthologies. In 2013 his poem ‘Transparency’ won The Big Blake Project’s William Blake Poetry Prize. You can find him on twitter as @littledeaths68.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Skinny-dipping Naked, unseen and alone; a belligerent bullfrog, I squat among reed-mace, amidst a fog of grey gnats. Watching the water for whirlpools, heartbeat, steady as a millstone. Step by step, I enter my element at a somnambulist\u2019s pace. Each foot, carefully placed, sinks ankle-deep into the mud\u2019s puckering sphincters, leaving no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15282"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15407,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15282\/revisions\/15407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\namong reed-mace, amidst a fog of grey gnats. Watching
\nthe water for whirlpools, heartbeat, steady as a millstone.<\/p>\n
\nEach foot, carefully placed, sinks ankle-deep into the mud\u2019s
\npuckering sphincters, leaving no trace of my transition.<\/p>\n
\nI know myself as buoyancy and become my own tide, a shoal
\nof myself, fluid, alive, as though I\u2019m of the river, not in it.<\/p>\n
\nA scribble of orgasmic spasms. Feet, fast as flippers, I
\nbubble-up a froth and flip to where the green weeds cling.<\/p>\n
\nliquid ribbons. Soft fronds stroke my chest, belly and genitalia
\ncausing a thrilling chill to domino-run along my vertebrae.<\/p>\n
\nonce more, baptise myself into the Church Of Aquaphilia.
\nRolling as a wave might, I kick and strike, like a pike taking prey.<\/p>\n
\nI gargle the dying notes of my gill-less song and guiltily return
\nto the dry discomfort of my abandoned clothes.<\/p>\n