c.p.n. signed off and queuing for spring rolls and broken dreams
fire-fighters in designer glasses waiting on beef and broken promises
jack common queuing for sweet&sour and false-dawns
bea campbell queueing for good szechuan sauce
kurt schwitters quiet immersion in bamboo shoot
charmers and charvas, bruises and bruisings
sucklers and sucklings, mama-san, her wok
– an impossible great mobius, never running dry
like the grand river itself, she feeds them all

and all the while mama-san sings
peppers are red, the peppers are red
the peppers are red and yellow
the peppers are red and yellow
and orange and green but mostly
red, aye – the peppers are red

delicately stir-frying
pak-choi in oyster sauce
caedmon has sauce
dribbling her chin
and how!