Forward parser declaration gets unexpectedly "baked in" as unbound fn

[darwin]

I'm getting unexpected "Attempting to call unbound fn" when parsing recursive structure which relies on forward declaration. This is only problem with cold REPL. When I re-evaluate namespace in the REPL for third time it starts working.

I don't understand the underlying issue but it seems to me that my forward-declared var gets somehow baked into some parser(s) and when such parser gets later executed the var is not dynamically resolved but uses value from "compile-time".

Please see this minimal example [1]
run py-value does not work in cold REPL, see[2]
run py-value2 works, get-py-value2 wrapper is protecting py-value2 from being baked in.

[1]

(ns api-gen.impl.repro
  (:require [blancas.kern.core :refer :all]
            [blancas.kern.lexer.basic :refer :all]))

; broken case

(declare py-value)

(def py-set
  (bind [v (braces (comma-sep py-value))]
    (return (set v))))

(def py-value
  (<|> identifier
       py-set))


; working case

(declare py-value2)

(defn get-py-value2 [s]
  (py-value2 s))

(def py-set2
  (bind [v (braces (comma-sep get-py-value2))]
    (return (set v))))

(def py-value2
  (<|> identifier
       py-set2))

(comment

  (run py-value "{a, b, {aa}}")
  (run py-value2 "{a, b, {aa}}")

  )

[2]

Execution error (IllegalStateException) at blancas.kern.core/>>=$fn (core.clj:377).
Attempting to call unbound fn: #'api-gen.impl.repro/py-value
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Attempting to call unbound fn: #'api-gen.impl.repro/py-value
	at clojure.lang.Var$Unbound.throwArity(Var.java:45)
	at clojure.lang.AFn.invoke(AFn.java:32)
	at blancas.kern.core$_GT__GT__EQ_$fn__1668.invoke(core.clj:377)
	at blancas.kern.core$_GT__GT__EQ_$fn__1668.invoke(core.clj:377)
	at blancas.kern.core$_LT__BAR__GT_$fn__1665.invoke(core.clj:359)
	at blancas.kern.core$_GT__GT__EQ_$fn__1668.invoke(core.clj:377)
	at blancas.kern.core$_GT__GT__EQ_$fn__1668.invoke(core.clj:379)
	at blancas.kern.core$_GT__GT__EQ_$fn__1668.invoke(core.clj:377)
	at blancas.kern.core$_GT__GT__EQ_$fn__1668.invoke(core.clj:377)
	at blancas.kern.core$_LT__BAR__GT_$fn__1665.invoke(core.clj:361)
	at blancas.kern.core$parse.invokeStatic(core.clj:926)
	at blancas.kern.core$parse.invoke(core.clj:917)
	at blancas.kern.core$run.invokeStatic(core.clj:956)
	at blancas.kern.core$run.invoke(core.clj:949)
	at blancas.kern.core$run.invokeStatic(core.clj:953)
	at blancas.kern.core$run.invoke(core.clj:949)
	at api_gen.impl.repro$eval2217.invokeStatic(repro.clj:35)
	at api_gen.impl.repro$eval2217.invoke(repro.clj:35)
	at clojure.lang.Compiler.eval(Compiler.java:7177)
	at clojure.lang.Compiler.eval(Compiler.java:7132)
	at clojure.core$eval.invokeStatic(core.clj:3214)
	at clojure.core$eval.invoke(core.clj:3210)
	at clojure.main$repl$read_eval_print__9086$fn__9089.invoke(main.clj:437)
	at clojure.main$repl$read_eval_print__9086.invoke(main.clj:437)
	at clojure.main$repl$fn__9095.invoke(main.clj:458)
	at clojure.main$repl.invokeStatic(main.clj:458)
	at clojure.main$repl.doInvoke(main.clj:368)
	at clojure.lang.RestFn.invoke(RestFn.java:1523)
	at nrepl.middleware.interruptible_eval$evaluate.invokeStatic(interruptible_eval.clj:79)
	at nrepl.middleware.interruptible_eval$evaluate.invoke(interruptible_eval.clj:55)
	at nrepl.middleware.interruptible_eval$interruptible_eval$fn__940$fn__944.invoke(interruptible_eval.clj:142)
	at clojure.lang.AFn.run(AFn.java:22)
	at nrepl.middleware.session$session_exec$main_loop__1041$fn__1045.invoke(session.clj:171)
	at nrepl.middleware.session$session_exec$main_loop__1041.invoke(session.clj:170)
	at clojure.lang.AFn.run(AFn.java:22)
	at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:830)