UK-based neurodivergent writer Jane Ayres re-discovered poetry studying for a part-time Creative Writing MA at the University of Kent, which she completed in 2019 at the age of 57. In 2021, she was nominated for Best of the Net, shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, and a winner of the Laurence Sterne Prize. Her debut collection edible is published by Beir Bua Press (July 2022).

love is a siren swimmer

come join me
embrace the waves
her arm outstretched
eyes beguiling
so you let her take
your hand her touch
a mellifluous flow
a lure
you risk a single
tentative step gasp
at the bonechill
of seasalt spray
licking tender flesh

come closer
her voice the sweetest
whisper & you take
another step
closer
& another this
beautiful cephalopod
sings a good song
closer still
one more step until
finally fully submerged
your feet no longer
float above the ocean floor
but start to thrash when
she loosens her tangled grip
(as you knew she would)
releases your hand
(as you always knew she would)
watch her detach
fade into the distance
a ripple of devastating blue