I would rather eat at the bar, but such behavior is regarded by professionals as...

I would rather eat at the bar,
but such behavior is regarded
by professionals as a form of denial,
so here I am seated alone
at a table with a white tablecloth
attended by an elderly waiter with no name–
ideal conditions for dining alone
according to the connoisseurs of this minor talent.
I have brought neither book nor newspaper
since reading material is considered cheating.
Eating alone, they say, means eating alone,
not in the company of Montaigne
or the ever-engaging Nancy Mitford.
Nor do I keep glancing up as if waiting
for someone who inevitably fails to appear–
a sign of moral weakness
to those who take this practice seriously.