I’ve Never Minded Drinking Alone

I had a friend, once,
who obsessed over building scale models of office suites

inside the glass bottles ordinarily used for models
of wooden ships,

his own office littered with empty handles
and fifths

stickered with the names of various naval celebrities
and Caribbean destinations.

So many scenes.
Tiny figurines jockeying for promotions

and raises and the attentions of their work wives.
Corner offices splendid

with miniature mahogany desks and views
not to be missed,

the cast of the glass bottle
adding psychedelic distortion to the view

of my once-friend’s office, lit
as it was with lamps he’d brought from home.

Overhead fluorescents kept off.
Better things to do than to meet up at the bar after 5,

turning cocktail napkins into blueprints
for other places we’d both prefer to be.