the ashtray

i don't like to drink
alone she says,
punching out a cigarette
in an ashtray
her son made in
shop class. he got a
D for it, she laughs.
it's a little cave
with a chimney
for the smoke to
go out. crude and
primitive, but it works.
i think a C would
have been a more
fair grade. what do you
think. fine, you tell
her. my mother stills
has the potholder
i made in shop although
the pegs fell out
when i dropped it
getting off the bus.
pour me another would
you, she says,
funny how quickly
they grow up.