Concrete Jungle Poem by Cunctus Cope

Look around with vigor
As the asphalt’s exposed to the sky
Graveyard shift is in motion
But that business feeds another guy

You’re here because of temptation
That only the shade can soothe
You’ve come to seek the sensation
That’ll make any man’s soul move

The tales and the nostalgia
Form the mythology of the night
Second-hand exchanges
And underhanded deals can’t be too bright
In the jungle, the concrete jungle
The child sleeps tonight
So the man can get to the alley
And try what might not be right

A farce of a father sits drinking his girl away
Tell him and it’s still so bleak
Wait for the slurred thought to leak
You’re sober, yet you’re insane

You speak to his face, but not his heart
You should’ve had the sense to quietly depart
Now you and a bouncer lie in body bags
And little Susie wakes up to the pain

You’d be here for the thrill
If you weren’t already in a daze
The Mirage docks and the rumor mills
Generate more of the haze

The tales and the nostalgia
Form the tapestry of this void
Your children dodged a foreign war
But they have been deployed
In the jungle, the concrete jungle
The maverick folds his cards
The status quo kill the bards
The glass neighborhood lies in shards

In the jungle
In the jungle
The child sleeps
The stalker creeps
The drunk and cheery
The sober and leery
The brave and the bold
The maggots and the cold

Who’s the villain when all that makes sense
Is to maximize ego, with ignorance or pence?