Artificial Eden: The Pleasure Principle (Addiction Theme) Poem by DM W

Quick fix culture - born of frustration
We're perched headlong on the fast lane
Of burn out leading to boredom.
The desolate places within each of us
Cannot be filled, refreshed or soothed by
The relentless pursuit of one night stands


Prozac prescribed to millions of persons
To numb the pain of existence
But it never heals the inner kingdom
Just scratches the outer surface
Of the ravaged ego's deadly -
Hydra like symptoms


All our lives we seem to move
Back and forth from dark to light
From light to darkness
From the cradle to the grave
We are the eternal seekers
Expectant and self - serving
But the search for new sensation
Leads to the threshold of despair


Invasion of the pure pools of silence
By the endless noise of desire
Addictions that sidetrack and eclipse
The hallowed energy of our higher selves
Addictions that deaden our truest desires
From tranquilisers to angel dust and heroin.
If its ecstasy that you crave
Desire creates more desire
If its escape you crave
Desire feeds off desire

Mainlining smack
The ultimate fix
When needle and vein
Engage in a kiss
That will lead to
Closer communion

The rush of blood
The sheer thrill
When the brain
Receives the hit
Of rapid, small
Explosions
Oh the feeling!
Oh the ecstasy

And then the swan dive slow
Like falling flakes of snow.
Words turn to dreams
Flesh to phantoms.

The precious spark
In all of us has died
Fragments of beauty
Lie paralysed.

Quick fix culture
A tortured procession
Of addictive personalities
The desert grows within us all
Woe to those who hide
The wastelands of the heart.