In the Skin House by Jeni Couzyn
The culmination of Jeni Couzyn's Selected Poems, Life by Drowning, was a new body of powerful, mystical poetry, including A Time To Be Born and The Coming of the Angel. In her latest collection, In the Skin House, she continues her journey of self-discovery in probing poems that are remarkable not just for their spiritual qualities but also for their tender lyricism and sense of wonder. The Sufi writer Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee calls In the Skin House Jeni Couzyn's own inner story: 'Her mysticism is neither abstract nor ascetic, but belongs to the school of lovers like Mary Magdalene... She does not deny the body, but embraces it and goes beyond its boundaries. She is a woman in the arms of her inner lover, surrendering to the mystery of the soul.'