In this brief reply to commentaries from Professor Etzel Cardena and Professor Anssi Perakyla on my paper, I try to extend some of the themes they raise, and sketch areas for subsequent research. In particular, I focus on Perakyla's observation that poetic confluence may serve a range of socio-relational functions, and Cardena's remarks on the metaphorical dimensions of mind. My discussion is developed around a brief consideration of a case that, while retaining key features of poetic confluence, departs from the pattern described in my paper.