I’ve pondered this bumper sticker. I can conceive of many ways to take it, but I wonder what they mean.
The Breakup
They were a sweet couple, and seemed so nice, as a couple, and individuals. No one suspected either of being killers or thieves.
We didn’t know anything was up, at first. But gradually as a slow-setting sun, we noticed snippiness nuance their voices, and covert hostility shade their glances.
Well, a little rain falls in every relationship. It’s not always smooth sailing.
The rumblings intensified. Witnesses reported seeing fissures open and smoke billow out. Still, they were young, or relatively so. They hadn’t been married that long, relatively, again. Of course there would be adjustments. Still, it was his second marriage, so…what could we make of that?
Two little girls came along. They doted on them. Photos and videos appeared on Facebook. They were everywhere, doing everything.
Then, he, gradually, slipped out of the photos and posts. Later, he began sharing his own photos and posts.
Word reached us after a few years, he’d moved out. He had a new girlfriend, and she had a new boyfriend.
Why? we asked ourselves. What had gone wrong? They were nice people. Neither were killers or thieves. But something, apparently, had gone wrong elsewhere. The unexplained that attracted them to one another had evaporated.
It was something that we just could not see.
The Team
He with his drinking,
she with her thinking,
she with her eyesight,
and he with his mouth,
they made quite a team,
like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their first year.
Today’s Theme Music
Today’s music, from two thousand eight, is by Lady Gaga. When I hear a song, I try understanding what’s being sung and the words’ meanings. “Poker Face” seemed ambiguous, at once about sex and gambling. I liked the combination because sex and love is a gamble taken, a roll of the dice, and relationships often become efforts in reading others’ expressions to discern agenda, meanings, and truth.
I later read that Lady Gaga wrote the song about her rock and roll boyfriends. That knowledge didn’t answer all my questions about the lyrics. Still, it’s a good song to stream as you beat the street in the heat.
In the Night
my hands, my hands
your curves, your curves
your hands, your hands
my curves, my curves
our lips, our lips
past forgotten and remembered
brought up and pushed back
flaming and inflamed
in the night
Michael Seidel, writer 