Straight out the Eight-Turn

You came straight out of the eight-turn,
black viper
dangling a golden fruit
of clusters of stars,
rattling it in my face.
I took the bait;
I knew the hand that dangled it;
I knew it was bait
and I took it because I wanted it.

Noyade in the Pink Cavity

Fingers dripping with
opalescent milk.

A hit—
while our secrets, murmured,
are executed in death.

Guillotine’s at the helm,
ready for the neck
but my hair is pulled southward,
a black ribbon
tied ‘round instead.

An inked chest
comes to life with my hot breath.
The deadly nightshade emerges, stalking;
sprouting from your ribcage—
hungry for innocence.

He spins me round
like a candlestick head,
pulls me in lustfully,
buries me with the sheets
in the bed.

Empty is the room
where the white calf
breathes its first breath.

Nova Glyn is a young emerging female poet, who examines the mundane, society and politics, female sexuality, desire, and what it means to be a woman in the modern world, often through a satirical or meditative tone. She self-published her first poetry collection in the summer of 2024, Romance In Stark Summers, which includes her poem 'Suicide: Chasms or Mountains?' that featured in the 2023 BAU poetry anthology following a poetry competition. Her new concept poetry collection, Dark Columbine, will be published this summer, in 2025, by the Scottish publisher Gometra Press.