How the Last European Film Will Go

by Tim Suermondt

The charming couple will split
over bad sex and incompatible philosophy —

the long tracking shots and extreme close–ups
will exhaust them and a generation.

A few difficult books will be packed —
the light turned off in the small apartment

with the red curtains and burgundy roses.
The couple will tender a farewell kiss

by the square but will jolt off in slow motion
in separate directions — the final camera shot

over the city’s rooftops, lingering nostalgically
until the credits scroll from darkness into history.