Ikea Poem by stephen roe

A pair of frayed curtains blinds a city,
Staggering slowly to a standstill as night falls.
In the lounge of a flat
One man and one woman are talking.

On a celibate settee
They rest their eyes on each other.
Each relates their past,
Dusting down past loves -

(Which hindsight slights)
Loose names, places, pain.
Before streetlight reveals the curtains flaws
Their gone -

Crossing the sheet to one another.
Tossing work clothes hither,
Revealing intimacies that
Conversation cloaks -

They lie now across one another.
Across every city
Couples are coupling in lounges.
Finding or losing themselves in love.

The mirror shows
How the strange and familiar,
By each other
Are designed similar.