Group Text

With lines from Kafka, Valéry, Goethe, and Bertrand Russell

Can you believe is the question and Chloe says nobut Chloe is the ingénue and wakes up believingso we laugh and she says no really and we laughagain but what is belief in this context says Emilyand what is the color of our belief says Brittanyand if we believe then what do we get asks Coreybecause if belief's not about what you get then what?There's a pause before the words come, an ellipsiswaving from the shore—Chloe says she could believeif belief didn't really mean anything but it doesso she doesn't and we don't laugh and Emily saysbelief isn't so much content as it is trustthat someone is listening so Brittany sends a picof her cat, Molly, and Corey says are you there, Becky,but I'm just three dots, shimmering. I can't tell themthat my belief is a coat with the pockets shotbut almost as if she could read my thoughtslaid out across the screen Brittany says that whichhas been believed by everyone always and everywherehas every chance of being false, plus here's a linkto an electric blue skater dress and Corey saysoh how sweet it is to hear one's own convictionsfrom another's lips (and texts a smiling poop+ a rocket). Chloe says guys wtf a beliefis like a guillotine just as heavy just as light.No says Brittany no one knows what a belief isno one knows what a fact is and no one knowswhat sort of agreement between themwould make a belief true. I've gotta motorsays Chloe the light just changed says Coreylosing service says Emily and Brittany says the dotsare swarming and I say I believe I'm one in a milliondroplets in a cloud of girls hanging over the city.