Let's Not Pretend We Are in Love
In today's culture of hooking up and causal relationships, where the theme, no matter what happens, is "Be cool." Another perspective:
Let's not.
Let's not get to know each other. Let's not learn our favorite colors and favorite flowers. Let's not try and comprehend each other's problems. Let's not remember our secrets. Let's not make memories that will last.
Let's not pretend we are in love when we are both far from it.
Let's not make promises. Let's not apologize when we have nothing to offer in return. Let's not make plans for the future. Let's not ask how we feel inside. Let's not ask what we do when we are alone and without each other. Let's not ask if we can trust each other.
Let's not call it making love.
Let's hurt each other because we can't trust anyone.
Let's close our hearts, and only remember the past. Let's forget the future. Let's pollute the present and smoke through it so it all becomes a blur. Let’s hold each other’s hands as we walk to places that aren’t “ours”, where we aren’t recognized or talked about. Let’s walk in silence because our words only waste our breaths.
Let's fuck. Let’s eat and blow, and puff on that last cigarette. Let’s turn the music up so we can’t hear each other. Let’s get high on the weed we spent all our savings on.
Let's see others and not be exclusive. Let's be undefined.
Let’s stay in the dark where no one can see us, touch us, tell us we aren’t right for each other. Let’s stay in the dark under the blanket, above the sheet that covers the bloodstained mattress where other women slept. Let’s stay in the dark where we can lie to each other as we sweat and taste the salt as our lips intertwine.
Let’s shut off the lights so we don’t have to learn each other’s expressions or see the betrayal in each other's eyes. Let’s close our eyes together. Let’s not wake each other so we can slip on our clothes and leave without goodbye. Let’s leave each other behind so we don’t wait with expectation.
Let’s only come back if our bodies tell us to. Let’s not wait for each other, or say if we are coming back, where we left off.
Let’s not call or answer.
Let’s not introduce each other as significant others and couples or boyfriends or girlfriends. Let’s not meet the parents, the friends, the neighbors that see us in and out before midnight and right before dawn.
Let’s not let anyone else know about our lie. Let’s not care about the world we corrupt, the souls we harm, the hearts we break.
Let's just be until the Universe pulls us apart and we inevitably break and return to our lonely selves.
Let’s be, until the skies shatter and the earth falls and the ground beneath us disappears.
Let's be betrayers. Let’s be unbreakable. Let's be lovers. Let's fly together to sinful places where no one can find us.
ELLE | Singer | Writer
Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Elle is a singer, writer, performer, dancer, and creative. She is an explorer of freedom and artistry. She sings in her mother tongue, Farsi (Persian), French and English. She blends the old with the new, with a sense of nostalgia, but also with love and joy. Growing up, she didn't know she was being raised by a mother whose dream of becoming a singer never became a reality. Years after immigrating to the United States, Elle took up voice lessons and now singing is her passion.
"I come from a country of broken rules, arbitrary rules. A country where guards break into homes and demand answers to the most private matters.
A country of unsolicited interrogations. A country of crushed dreams. A country where women are not allowed to sing."
Today I break silence everyday. I sing in front of strangers, family and friends. I write and speak in an attempt to break the habit of accepting all I was forbidden to do growing up. I sing to free my censored soul, for my mother who wanted to be a singer but was forbidden. I break silence in an attempt to awaken banned dreams and emerging dreams.
"When I am not singing, I write. When I am not writing, I dance. When I am not dancing, I imagine myself a bird and fly."
"ELLE CAN TELL A TRAGIC LOVE STORY WITH A SINGLE NOTE." - INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH RECORDS
