Truth is where the life is

Up on the screens in the departure lounge

They’re showing images of deadly fires in California.

There’s a young woman in a jumpsuit, her face completely covered in breathing apparatus

Standing in front of a burning building to titillate the breakfast news.

We all look away, uneasy, because we know, or choose not to know,

That the flight we’re waiting for is contributing to the destruction.

And all the online newspapers are talking abut Mark Zuckerberg

Wearing a nine hundred thousand wristwatch

As he announces he is abolishing truth

And everyone on Meta will be free to call women household implements

And free to call people like me the most disgusting things they can think of

In the name of common sense and freedom of speech.

But really to say that lies are where the money is.

But it seems to me, Mr Zuckerberg.

To sell your soul to the devil

And just get a million dollar wristwatch in return

Strikes me as an exceptionally poor bargain.

You’ve been cheated, Mr Zuckerberg,

And none of this will save you.

You’ll look back and you’ll be sorry when you’re in the arms of Sister Death.

We might meet her together, you and I,

And me, I’ll have no regrets.

Me on my way to Sydney to become Queen Jesus,

And when I get back I’ll be seeing a play about love and humanity,

Communally created by me and my friends,

And I know when I meet Sister Death

It’ll be after a life devoted to art and love and beauty

Whereas you’ll have led a wretched existence

Dedicated to power and lies and money.

You won’t listen to me, of course you won’t.

You might listen to Steve Jobs, who I imagine might have been your mentor. And he said this:

“At this moment, lying on the bed, sick and remembering all my life, I realize that all my recognition and wealth that I have is meaningless in the face of imminent death. You can hire someone to drive a car for you, make money for you – but you can not rent someone to carry the disease for you. One can find material things, but there is one thing that can not be found when it is lost – “LIFE””.

And however hard you try, Mr Zuckerberg, you can’t suppress the fires that are burning.

And one day they will consume you.

“The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen Of Heaven” at St. Stephen’s Uniting Church, Macquarie St., Sydney, Jan 10-11th.

Tickets here: Jesus Queen tickets

“36” by Jo Clifford and Bayley Turner, directed by Kitan Petkovski and produced by Bullet Heart Club and Foryfive Downstairs for the Midsumma Festival, 21st Jan- 2nd Feb.

Tickets: "36" at Fortyfive Downstairs