Analgesia

[Philatone]

hey ray! good to have you back

We reel ‘em in with Ritalin,
(Big Pharma pockets the profit)
Viagra and the Vitamin –
it gets so hard to come off it.....tiny note: is "it" the right word at the end? shouldn't it be plural?

Increasing dependency doses,
the playground exchange of bright sweets;
damned by a dual diagnosis,
the endless prescription repeats.

To manage stress a bullet-proof vest
is obligatory in these quarters:
the weight you can’t get off your chest
when there’s statins in the waters.

In theatre critical poses
are struck at an unwilling heart;
before the final curtain closes
you’ll need permission to depart. ...this felt a bit forced to me

The freaks and loners seek revenge
on all those who disrespect them;
they don’t say much and have few friends -
they’re on the autistic spectrum

and exempt from human weakness
in our analgesic Eden
where all suffering is sickness
and susceptible to treatment. ...like the message and the wording here; I think it's well-phrased

have to say that the meter struck me as inconsistent in several areas, making me read over a few lines repeatedly.

as is, the stanzas struck me as feeling very isolated from each other; each has a specific, complete idea without really transitioning into the following stanza. the result is a poem made of many independent parts; each delivers an effective punch, but the complete portrait does not feel as strong as the individual parts, though that is only my view. thanks for the read