Alice Cooper - Poison Lyrics Meaning

On the surface, this song is about a man who is in love with (or has a crush on) a woman. The woman is sexy and attractive ("your mouth, so hot" "i wanna kiss you" "i wanna touch you") etc, but cruel. She's the kind of person who gets a kick from men falling for her. ("your cruel device" "my pain - your thrill"). Maybe the woman will even let him... do all the things he wants to do ;-) but he knows that will make the problem worse ("i better not touch") She is already "under [his] skin". If he gives into his desire, he may lose himself.

(To those who suggested the woman in the song may be too young, or under age... you are welcome to read the song that way, but I can see no specific evidence in the song to back up your claim. Would you care to elaborate?)

On a deeper level, the woman may certainly be a symbol for heroin, as others have suggested. (he "better not touch", he "wants it too much"), and heroin is, actually, poison. It's already "running through [his] veins" and because it's so addictive, even if he had come off it when he (with Desmond Childs and John McCurry) wrote this song, he would still have been prone to cravings. So he is still addicted, and a part of him doesn't want to "break these chains".

As for being about AIDS? That metaphor doesn't work at all. Why would a person be simultaneously attracted to, and disgusted by AIDS? Why would a person say "I don't want to break these chains"? AIDS is not "hot", and it doesn't call you ("i hear you calling") like a woman might, or like you might imagine heroin does, if you were an addict.
JTG

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