Featured Poet - Niko Israelov

TO MY CLOSEST CONFIDANT

To my closest confidant,

I hope this finds you

well...

Partly by descent through you into madness,

partly by cutting paths to bliss,

my psyche unravels yet again

as your replacement for the failed

begins to crack

under the same

old

repetitions of my mind.

As expected,

your mask reforms

into yet another banefactor

for my hollow entourage.



PATHS

I've heard

there are certain states of mind

to soothe one's dread of living.

I'm still

working

on finding those mythical paths.

KNOW

Know yourself.

Know the ones you care for.

Know that your deliberate attempts

at self‑salvation,

through crooked and deceitful needs,

will inevitably birth

their alienated minds.

You create their apathy

in the name of love.

Know that,

in your attempts to victimize your sanity,

you became insane.



LETTER TO MY DEATH

May I die?

Not some glorious death,

not one of battles,

nor one of strength.

One of the simplest mockery,

one for chatter,

one for the taunt

of one's mental health.

One of clutter,

one that will pierce

through my fatal stealth,

one that will scatter

among the ones whose love

was far greater

than the love I held

for myself.

YOU

Throughout my years,

leashed by my deadening soul,

I've searched for some living

among those individuals

who gleam from the masses,

colored by the dark.

And yet,

I still haven't seen

one who will paint it all bright.

I still

haven't found

you.