From their two-bedroom apartment
on the outer edge of Cupertino,
the Gods evicted from Olympus
are creating their pulsating metahell.
They know how easily we, lemmings
enchanted by the sparkling void,
offer ourselves up in sacrifice, always
wanting still another gigabyte,
entranced by the idea of the Deus
ex machina, blind to our own truth.
They promise us eternity, a heaven
of a parallel binary universe,
redemption for our electronic souls.
We are afraid to enter, afraid
to leave, wrapped in our digital stasis.
We want things as they were,
we want things as we imagine them,
our virtual reality rendered real.
The Gods laugh silently, knowing
the knock on the door is coming,
the eviction to happen yet again
for non-payment of compassion,
and they wait for the ultimate
blue screen as the matrix collapses.

First published in NonBinary Review, Issue 32, May 2023