{"id":1071,"date":"2007-09-27T09:52:25","date_gmt":"2007-09-27T09:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=1071"},"modified":"2007-09-27T09:52:25","modified_gmt":"2007-09-27T09:52:25","slug":"the-we-lies-by-p-a-levy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/the-we-lies-by-p-a-levy\/","title":{"rendered":"The 'We' lies by P. A. Levy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u2018We\u2019 Lies<\/span>


After reading Simone Weil<\/span>
you put on a pair of sunglasses<\/span>
and stated emphatically<\/span>
that every sentence<\/span>
beginning with \u2018we\u2019 is a lie.<\/span>

We are good together.<\/span>

I asked about the sunglasses;<\/span>
it was January. You explained,<\/span>
with a Gallic shrug, she was French<\/span>
then started reading aloud<\/span>
long passages, I\u2019ve no idea<\/span>
what about \u2018cos the West Ham<\/span>
game was on the radio,<\/span>
the Upton Park faithful<\/span>
were chanting:<\/span>
\u201cWe are staying up.<\/span>
We are staying up.\u201d<\/span>
That doesn\u2019t look likely;<\/span>
lost again.<\/span>

We were meant for each other.<\/span>

I opened a bottle of beer<\/span>
hoping to drown defeat:<\/span>
trust me to support such<\/span>
a shit team. You poured yourself<\/span>
a glass of Burgundy, still feeling French<\/span>
you tell me: \u201cwe have our liberty.\u201d<\/span>
To be honest, at this precise moment,<\/span>
I would rather have three points.<\/span>
Then, lighting a Gitanes, and surrounding<\/span>
yourself in plumes of smoke for support<\/span>
you chant with a smile: \u201cwe have<\/span>
everything we ever dreamed of.\u201d<\/span>
Sorry, but I can\u2019t see my Triumph Bonny<\/span>
parked outside, no platinum discs<\/span>
from my hit records, no cup winners\u2019 medals<\/span>
even though I always score the winning goal.<\/span>
You see, she could actually be right,<\/span>
this Simone Weil, \u2018cos this \u2018we\u2019 <\/span>
doesn\u2019t seem to be working for me.<\/span>

We would always be true.<\/span>

With full continental temperament<\/span>
you allow your arms an acid house<\/span>
dance; big box, little box,<\/span>
throw your arms into explaining<\/span>
about the meaning of the box,<\/span>
the purpose of its existence.<\/span>
You exhale Paris itching<\/span>
to discuss caf\u00e9 philosophies<\/span>
or overturn Renaults<\/span>
and burn them in the fireplace<\/span>
waving placards saying:<\/span>
\u2018we don\u2019t talk anymore\u2019.<\/span>
Sacre Bleu! Merde!<\/span>
I was telling you we had strikers<\/span>
that couldn\u2019t hit a shot on target<\/span>
from inside the six yard box,<\/span>
that our midfield had gone missing,<\/span>
keeper tends to flap on crosses. <\/span>
Talking isn\u2019t the problem.<\/span>

We loved each other, once.<\/span>

Not every sentence<\/span>
beginning with \u2018we\u2019 is a lie.<\/span>


\u2022 P.A.Levy says… “<\/span>I'm a Cockney sparrow now living in exile in the beautiful Suffolk countryside.  As a life long West Ham fan I know all about dreams that fade and die<\/span> and fortunes always hiding<\/span>.”<\/span>

<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The \u2018We\u2019 LiesAfter reading Simone Weilyou put on a pair of sunglassesand stated emphaticallythat every sentencebeginning with \u2018we\u2019 is a lie.We are good together.I asked about the sunglasses;it was January. You explained,with a Gallic shrug, she was Frenchthen started reading aloudlong passages, I\u2019ve no ideawhat about \u2018cos the West Hamgame was on the radio,the Upton […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}