Nikita Bastin is a poet based in Philadelphia, studying English and biology at the University of Pennsylvania. She began writing poetry her senior year of high school and has contributed poems to literary journals including Eunoia Review, Glass Kite Anthology, and the National Poetry Quarterly. She has also been a finalist for the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award and has studied at the Iowa Young Writers Studio and the Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship.
girl seeks space for reasons tbd
I dragged my feet when I left. I was tired of you.
Your eyes tracking my every move, anticipating my every need.
I was frustrated at myself for being tired of you. Satisfaction
is what I am after. Contentedness, with the occasional joy
on those days most tinted with rose. Those days were all in London.
To sit. To look around. To think. To wonder. To hear Mina Loy
whisper, I had to be caught in the weak eddy of your drivelling humanity
To love you most, as the sunlight filters through the walnut trees,
and my skin shows with a golden lustre. I don’t hear anything these days.
My mind is frustrated at you. At me. At anyone she can sink her teeth into.
And my mind is lazy. She drags her feet, and does not move.
I would like to read something. And I would like to remember it.
Don’t get too close to me. You may puncture what I have built.
I am trying to find my values. So please. Keep your distance.
Clementine Unbound 