The City and The Suburbs

My friend from the city
asked me why I wasn’t
on a hot date tonight.
 
I tried to tell her
there’s no such thing
as a hot date around here,
 
not in the suburbs,
not where people play
their cards so close to
 
the vest they’re wearing
them as an accessory. This
is not like where she is,
 
she in a big sprawl of
ambitious souls who venture
out and about to have a
 
taste of whatever here and
there have to offer.  That
is unheard of in the suburbs.
 
People here would rather
find the fastest way
to be inside and nested
 
than stand in a flock of
unknown moving bodies.
My friend had never
 
pondered such concerns,
assuming the rest of the world
moved the way she did.
 
So she left me be to
return to her downtown
hustle and bustle while
 
I spent another all too
quiet night dwelling in
suburban purgatory.