JUST MARRIED

every day
I walked a dog past a driveway
on Lincoln Ave.
with a black Dodge Dakota
parked in it.
on the back was a decal
that read, ’10-11-09’
it was early October
and I was staring wide-eyed
down the barrel
of another lonely winter.

days passed
just like I passed by the truck
then one day the truck had cans attached
ribbons, too
and written in big letters
across the rear window
the words, ‘JUST MARRIED!!’

I thought, ‘good for them,’
and walked on by

a few days later
before leaving in the morning
to walk dogs
I was perusing the online police logs
of the local newspaper
and I read this: ‘police responded
to a Lincoln Ave. residence for a domestic
disturbance involving a toilet seat
being left up. Both parties cooperated
and said that they had just been married
and were ‘getting used to living
with one another.’”

I took a bite of my toast
a sip of my beer
and smiled
down the barrel
of another lonely winter