at 08:22 he awakens and pushes away the tarp he uses as blanket he’s already dressed up and wears shoes looks around at the blackening dampness of the walls stretches a bit takes off his coat and the blouse and the shirt and the tank-top grabs a tissue wets it with rubbing alcohol and uses it to wash his armpits. He knows it’s good for killing the bad smelling bacteria He knows much about how the world works for he’d been to school and even one year of collage in his youth When his armpits dry he dresses up and gets out and checks under the big flower pots that stand before the entry to the building He is wise to keep his savings there Otherwise the others would’ve smelled it on him and would’ve robbed him a long time ago He counts the money and feels satisfied with the sum At 09:30 he eats a warm meal at the local soup kitchen and turns down four bums who ask to borrow money At 10:10 he walks up to the big casino and enters Now his imagination kicks in Behind the entry he is greeted with luxury, he walks on the red carpet and sees the bright lights and the game attendants who greet him like a king He is the king in his vision and he had returned to his castle He smiles and walks around leisurely A man needs to have but a clear vision of a bright future to live a happy present He finds a seat in front of a slot machine puts the money into the bill acceptor and starts playing He is one of the happiest customers the casino ever had
sometimes I think I’m just too good for you by Bogdan Dragos
He jumped off the building and the metallic wings carried him high towards the clouds where others like him swam in absolute bliss but then something hit his head and he woke up turned around in bed and realized there was blood trickling from his eyebrow The girl besides him was holding a stapler in […]
sometimes I think I’m just too good for you by Bogdan Dragos
childhood’s villain
Father used his fists a lot Though never on the kids On the walls and the furniture and the doors and the mailbox and the fence and the neighbors and random people on the street and strangers in the bar and a few times the poor dog and one time on mother He was the childhood’s villain To defeat him one had to become a hero and becoming a hero took time And today after all this time the villain of childhood was dead He died at the hands of some other character, a neutral one A cop who told him to drop to the ground and father didn’t so he got shot That was it The end of his saga Utterly unsatisfactory anticlimactic disappointing just bad There was no final showdown between hero and villain because those things only happen in childhood and childhood had ended a long time ago
how can you be such a monster? by Bogdan Dragos

he spent four weeks away from his family in a rented apartment somewhere on the outskirts of town he told them that he needed this he was a writer needed to focus on his work conducting his research undistracted his little girl would call from time to time asking daddy to hold his phone against his forehead while she made a kissing sound on the other line very wholesome except he lied about holding the phone against his forehead “How can you be such a monster?” asked the naked prostitute sitting on the edge of his bed “Shut up,” he said tossed his phone on the desk and unbuckled
too late is too late
Wherever you hear about a drinking problem you expect the man to be violent and vulgar and turn abusive and destructive well it wasn’t the case with him There was a drinking problem there for sure but all it cursed him with was sleep and sometimes verses He’d start writing after drinking But he was a kind man and a great lover and his wife had a hard time convincing her family and friends and neighbors that a man who has a separate trashcan only for bottles and beer cans is not a man who strikes his wife, not even with words Well, none of them read his poetry and by the time he died of cirrhosis it was too late You can’t scold a dead man for having written thousands upon thousands of pages of splatter-punk gore and abuse fantasies involving his wife her family her friends neighbors and everyone he knew, including minors
Two Bullets
By Bogdan Dragos
she came out of the bathroom with
the pink towel wrapped
around her and found
him sprawled on the bed
very thoughtful
He held in his right hand
two bullets
that he constantly rubbed against each
other with a kind
of obsession
She jokingly said, “So, one for me
and one for you?”
“No,” he said. “One for everyone else in
the world but you and I.”
“Haha, nice,” she said. “Anyway, why do you
always carry those bullets
around?”
“Eh, no particular reason,” he lied
The bullets carried all the
reasons in the world. He
carried them in his pocket ever since seventh
grade when he was mere
steps away from using them on his
bullies
But then
one day
she just showed up and was nice
to him
and the depression became a little less heavy,
just enough to be carried through
the years of…
View original post 125 more words
The New Guy
New feature in The Yard: Crime Blog
ヽ(´ー`)ノヽ(´ー`)ノヽ(´ー`)ノ
By Bogdan Dragos
there was a new guy in the park
among the homeless
He arrived just after the mayor had
eradicated all
the tents and improvised huts
and it was easy to spot him
He was the one who
always had a book in his hand, always
reading
“Check out the new guy,” they
said. “An intellectual. Heh, hey buddy,
what you reading that for? Not like
you gonna get a degree that’ll take
your ass outta here anytime soon. Haaahahah!”
He was reading his own poems
from a time when
he was young and his dreams were
still alive
Today nothing was alive
but misery itself
(Bio: Bogdan Dragos supervises casinos for a gambling company, working twelve-hour shifts locked in a dark office full of TV monitors. There he mostly daydreams and writes poems and stories. He also manages a poetry blog at bogdandragos.com
He has a book…
View original post 12 more words
Not Ready to Join the Stars Just Yet
Thank you to The Yard: Crime Blog for featuring this one
*⁂((✪⥎✪))⁂*
By Bogdan Dragos
the girl with burnt face and
faded eyes
would call out to him
She would call out to him in those nights
of wandering alone around the
town
as a way to combat insomnia
She was barefoot
and wore but a simple nightgown
and if he got close enough
she would reach for his hand
caress it a few times
while staring him in the eyes
with her eyes that looked like painted
marbles
Then she would give a nod
and ask him to follow
All the way up that unfinished building
all the way up to the ninth floor
all the way to the margin
all the way to the corner
To watch the stars
But her eyes weren’t looking towards the sky
They were looking down at the lights
below
And every night she would jump down
to join the stars
and he wouldn’t follow
View original post 67 more words
Green Cotton Candy
by Bogdan Dragos
from 07:30 in the morning and until
09:00 he stands by
the clothes store
and stares at his image in the gray window
He’s wearing a green suit
that now looks kinda brown and feels
in the same time
heavy with accumulated dirt
and light with missing patches
The people pass by him and look either
at their phones or away
At 09:30 he departs from the clothes store
and paces towards the
metro station
where he’ll spend the remainder of the day
playing the accordion for
uninterested ears
Still, some would toss
a coin or two in his hat. Out of mercy
or simply because they
were bothered by the change in their pockets
When the sun sets outside
he emerges from the underground
weighting his earning in one hand
He has a quick pace
despite never eating and never sleeping
The cotton candy stand is…
View original post 94 more words
New feature in The Yard: Crime Blog (Green Cotton Candy)
Feeling super blessed to have my piece "Green Cotton Candy" featured in the illustrious The Yard: Crime Blog. Many thanks to the editor! Read the poem here.
