import paramiko
import StringIO
my_key = """\
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
<your key here>
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"""
pkey = paramiko.RSAKey.from_private_key(StringIO.StringIO(my_key))
ssh = paramiko.SSHClient()
ssh.set_missing_host_key_policy(paramiko.AutoAddPolicy())
ssh.connect(hostname='host', username='user', pkey=pkey)
...
ssh.close()