The New Drug

Designed to divine the droopy mind,
the new drug makes its way through the underground
like an influenza.
“Toke! Toke!” they all say.
“It will take you higher than the Apollo Mission.
Higher than the golden oldies: XTC, DMT, STP, Special-K.”

Ineluctably, all the kids start doing it.
In the basements, the clubs, the corridors, the bathrooms,
the boudoirs.
Pretty soon everyone is toking the new-fangled narcotic
that tastes like a plastic barbie head dipped in mercury.

The walls start melting.
Technicolor frescoes and psychedelic Mandelbrot sets jut out from
the spaces between space.
Hearts start thumping.
Brains start bouncing.
Then the organic soul is ripped to shreds
inside the mind’s eye of every psychonaut,
and the shreds are lifted up by the Hand of God
and taken to a numinous sanctum.

Did I mention that the high lasts twelve seconds
encroaching upon eternity?

The craze spreads to every country.
Celebrities do it and post videos on You Tube.
Moms and Dads do it before bed.
Politicians do it before speeches.
Matadors do it before bull fights.
Everyone is enamored with it.
21st century Soma, Nectar of the Gods.

Then, out of the blue, it disappears.
The supply runs dry.
The kids move onto some other “spirit molecule”.
Moms and Dads resort to wine.
Politicians resort to policies and cognac.
The new drug goes as quickly as it came.

Did I mention that the high lasted twelve seconds
encroaching upon eternity?