Bamboo

And so, I was wondering

how these notes and scribbles
could be fashioned into poems

The chewdog technology
at the Pampered Petshop, for example
the Tequila Mockingbird,

Hearsy’s Cartage, “Careful since 1890”,
The mythical feats of the shaman, the warriors
and spiritual beings

And then, in Victoria
I found a book of poems by Billy Collins
in a sale at Munro’s

It led me, in a series of verbal winks,
poetic gestures and the subtle movement
of vowels, along the sidewalk

And around the Writers’ Block
to this small coffee shop

I can't wait to drink
these freshly-brewed metaphors
that smell so warm and sweet
as the small, Italian waitress
with the delicate hands
pours them into
the Chinese porcelain
with its brush-stroked
mountains and bamboo