Drug Commercials on the Evening News
(From Poetry Pizza: A Slice of Life Collection)
by Victor Rook
Pill-popping nation tunes in at six
The evening news will give them a fix
After stories of death, despair, and doom
They'll sell you some drugs to ease your gloom
Not one or two, nor three or four
But drugs in the dozens knock on our door
From inside the screen they promise relief
From all of our pains and physical grief
Chron's to diabetes, and overactive bladder
There's a pill to take, no matter the matter
If you've had the pox, you might get shingles
It's a painful fire that more than tingles
Have you got a sneeze, there's a pill to take
Can't form your own tears, there's a drop to fake
Vaginal cream for the women among us
And a pill to rid your unsightly toe fungus
If you can't get it up, there are drugs for that
But four hours in, you may go flat
You never know when, you'll aspire
So take the drugs daily to stoke your fire
Drugs galore will thin out your blood
Your colon, too, can become a great flood
Just take this pill and it will go through
But better watch out for what else it may do
The pills they sell have side effects
The list scrolls up like a Rolodex
Dry mouth, fatigue, and they must confess
Taking their pills may cause you your death
Yet the actors appear to float in slow motion
Their lives now grand after taking their potion
Sunshine and mountains, all picturesque
Living life full without the stress
It makes me wonder, and gives me a fright
Why they show these ads, night after night
Then lawsuits arise when we find out the facts
That the research they did was horribly lax
ABC, CBS, and NBC news
Drug pushers pushing those drugs on you
What ever happened to happier ads
Like food, and toys, instead of what's bad?
****
Get your copy of Poetry Pizza at http://victorrook.com/poems
Ever since you posted this poem, those prescription drug ads have gotten worse. It's no accident the ads appear on network news shows. Old people watch network news and old people need prescription drugs. Viagra has a new ad with a fetching Chinese-American woman that makes me want to have that four-hour problem. But mostly I just can't stand these ads with their graphic descriptions of side effects.
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