have you gone completely mad? by Bogdan Dragos

of course,
it's not easy

If it were easy
everybody would've done it

But this... this required courage
above all. It required guts. It
required an overdose of
nonconforming

And today was the day
that proved he was just the right man
for it

Often
the right man is the insane man,
the soul who dares to
be the revolutionary who goes against
the system

Dammit, everything was in
place. The cards were dealt and all bets
placed. The muse was
caged and ready
to be milked

"Here I go," he said, ignoring the knocks
and the shouts coming from
beyond the sturdy door
of his office

The nonbelievers were trying to
reach out to him

fools without vision
like his mother and his wife
and mother-in-law
and the children

Oh, they demanded to know for what reason
did he suddenly decide to
quit his high-paying job at the law firm
to start a career as a writer

what fools

"Darling, what about the mortgage?"

"What about your retirement funds, you idiot?"

"What about the kids' college debt?"

"Have you gone completely mad, for
Christ's sake?"

Yes. Yes, I have.
One has to be mad to write. But still,
no matter how mad a writer is,
he still doesn't hold
a candle to the nine to five
salary man, does he?