Concrete Jungle
Animals abound.
Wild kingdom.
Survival.
Fighting for
survival.
Laws of
the jungle,
embedded.
Embedded
within every
fiber of
being.
Savage
being.
Coded for
survival.
Instincts
evolved,
battling
to survive.
Killing to
live.
Enter
civilization.
Cooperation.
Building.
Abandoning
th­e jungle.
Enter the
jungle.
Instincts remain.
Primitive
instincts.
Rules of the
Jungle
still reside.
Dwell within.
Transition,
moving through.
Jungle
rules.
Rules of
civilization.
Clash.
Out of the
jungle
into the
Jungle.
New
global
jungle.
“Civilized”
jungle.
Predators
abou­nd.
Instincts
intact.
Savage
the weak.
Instincts
die hard.
**** or be
killed.
Instincts
intact.
Outcome
in doubt.
Time grows
short.
Transition
unsure.

Some people have a jungle mentality.
They say if we lived in the jungle
the strong would dominate the weak.
But this isn’t a jungle
it’s so far from the jungle it’s impossible to say
exactly who the strong and the weak are
when there are so many variables
and the society we live in
dictates the skills and attributes we acquire.
Yet some people try to turn society into the jungle
because they think they’d thrive there
but their jungle doesn’t have trees
it has chimpanzees cut off at the knees
nor does it have a sustainable ecosystem
it has concrete walls and steel bars
where they beat the small and leach the large.
The ape beating its chest the hardest
hoards all the bananas
while its shrewdness starves.
The only jungle it resembles is Upton Sinclair’s
but before that jungle can be realized
they have to plant the jungle mentality in our minds.

Mom said it's not a jungle gym,
It's not a jungle gym.
It's not a jungle gym.
It's not a jungle gym.

But it was a GIANT ELEPHANT!
And chains are for clanging
And metal is for banging
And roped off areas are for sneaking
Under

It’s not a jungle gym
It’s not a jungle gym
It’s not a jungle gym

I didn’t understand why mom wasn’t excited
She just stood next to me staring up at the Elephant

It’s not a jungle gym
I let go of her hand
It’s not a jungle gym
I ducked under the rope,
It's not a jungle gym
I almost didn’t need to duck

Then I touched the metal elephant,
To test if he was real.