Suspension of Disbelief
Let's workshop this poem about how shared religious experiences provide comfort and unity for a person who has faced man hardships and even senses deep down the thick delusionality of her congregation
Suspension of Disbelief Decades of battery by that brutal trinity (disloyalty, disease, death), honestly: what else could keep you swaying and shouting (swooning even) like this (pews full of delusion too cloying to stomach) but—huddled mammals in the end— the solace of synchrony?
"Suspension of Disbelief" captures the raw emotional landscape of those battered by life's relentless hardships—disloyalty, disease, and death—finding solace in collective rituals that offer a fleeting escape from despair. The poem reflects on the power of communal experiences, where the act of synchrony, whether in worship or shared delusion, becomes a necessary refuge for those worn down by the brutal realities of existence. The imagery of swaying and shouting, of pews filled with fervor too overwhelming to bear alone, emphasizes the human need for connection and the comfort that comes from losing oneself in the collective rhythm, even if only momentarily. This suspension of disbelief, the poem suggests, is less about genuine faith and more about a primal, almost instinctual, clinging to the comfort found in unity when confronted with the inevitable sufferings of life.