Rough Side of Town

Law abiding citizens nurturing our safe community we live in a universe of rules written by pencil pushers Seeming offensive to some and boring to others gives birth to an underground parallel world out there Somewhat of a by-product off on a tangent that’s gone astray it’s the night to the day of our structured monochrome society Onto shady streets the law of the jungle reigns supreme its pulse has a raw might that’s visceral and palpable Theirs is a culture that speaks a foreign language dark entities settling differences with machine guns In some concoction of violence chaos and survival forever keeping score their way etched in blood Drugs and overdoses every day in every way familiar jiving on the wrong side of town where we won’t visit Intertwining realities as normal to them as ours to us we can’t relate to theirs and they can’t to ours In their brutal arena the law is an eye for an eye their justice is savage merciless and unforgiving Empires built on vengeance of what you want you take violence begets violence hopefully our worlds never collide We try to stay blissfully ignorant in our little familiar realm there’s no reasoning with rebels once the line is crossed At least in this world our corruption is underhanded and it’s much easier to maintain the illusion with our manicured lawns and white picket fences AP: Honorable Mention 2020 Submitted on June 24, 2020 for contest OPINION sponsored by KAI MICHAEL NEUMANN - RANKED 9TH