by Ann Weil

At least I think it’s Banksy—
he’s graffiti-ing our corner booth

with little girls reaching for red heart balloons.
Our server gives him the stink-eye,

but Hillary’s stomach growls, distracting us all.
Hil orders a tempeh Reuben and a side

of sweet potato fries. Banksy’s not hungry,
but when the food comes, he turns

puppy-dog eyes on Hillary
and she shares her spuds. I offer him

a pull on my matcha-mango smoothie,
but the straw is soggy. Such is life.

Banksy is surprised that Hil
has taken up Bill’s vegan lifestyle—

apparently, she heard the grass
is always greener on the other side

of the fence, and in this case,
she reports, it actually is.

Hillary asks Banksy what it’s like
to be wildly famous without being known.

Banksy whispers in her ear,
mentioning her time as First Lady.

I order a slice of carrot cake
topped with cashew crème. Three forks.

Hillary wipes walnut dust from Banksy’s chin.
On the way out, Banksy paints a big blue

Hillary 2028 on the restaurant’s door.

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Ann Weil writes at her home on the corner of Stratford and Avon in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and on a deck boat at Snipe’s Point Sandbar off Key West, Florida. Her work has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize and appears in Pedestal Magazine, DMQ Review, New World Writing Quarterly, The Shore, 3Elements Review, and elsewhere. Her chapbook, Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman, was released in April 2023 from Yellow Arrow Publishing.