There is a cellar restaurant in Rome by Janna Grace

with a clown watching
from the only painting in the dining room.

There are also some leaves climbing plastic vines
across red and white checkerboard
but none go near (can hear) the clown.

He watches, in the flat distance, next to a tree,
and even the paint lines on his face cannot make him smile
at the tourists who hiss as they descend
the stairs into "authenticity!"

We told ourselves we only came in to get out
of a rainstorm,
but we belong and would prefer English
menus with our Ronald McDonald taste
of Italy, grazie!

Janna Grace lives in a half-glass barn and her work has appeared in The Bitchin' Kitsch, Plastik Magazine, and Red Eft Review, among others. She has pieces forthcoming in Otoliths and Horla and she teaches writing at Rutgers University. Janna is the editor of Lamplit Underground and her debut novel will be published through Quill Press in 2019.

Website: JannaLiggan.com

Twitter: Lamplitug