the mayor of flavortown has been to my town

& i can prove it.

he signed his name on the wall of the bar,

next to a red spray-painted stencil of his face.

it’s over there in the back where people stand

to wait in line for the single-stall bathroom.

the owner covered it with a hard layer of plastic,

o ageless fieri, mayor bulletproof—

bordered that with a black picture frame

drilled in at all four corners. he’s here to stay.

o guy o guy my god thank god you are here

watching over me in this irish pub

where i drink half price beers after class

twice a week with my student discount

& full price beers every other night.

Olivia Braley is a mostly-poetry writer living in Annapolis, Maryland. She is a co-founder and Editor in Chief of Stone of Madness Press, and a Reader at Longleaf Review. She is pursuing her Master’s of Liberal Arts at St. John’s College, holds a B.A. in English Literature and Spanish from the University of Maryland, College Park, and is an alumni of the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House. Keep up with her work on Twitter @OliviaBraley.