"tenterhooks" poems
so far, so great, & the promise
of so long lingers on tomorrow;
hung on tenterhooks, staggering
sparks run through the early hours
as realisation hovers. that only less
than the length of a week, now, may
hold my consignation to this side
of another stretch of soil, another
long dream.
& everyone i've ever and never met
will look up at stars the same, but
all my constellations, bent n mirrored,
will flare up and light out footstep
patterns like eye-blink,
surveying all that was lost and found.
but, for now,
gales whip up a storm outside,
like the electricity planted
in my gut. another
momentary awakening.
Mar 10, 2016
Mar 10, 2016 at 2:17 AM UTC
restless but doin okay
uneasy, ill at ease, restive, fidgety, edgy, on edge, tense, worked up, nervous, agitated, anxious, on tenterhooks, keyed up;
jumpy ,jittery, twitchy, uptight, antsy
sleepless, wakeful
fitful, broken, disturbed, troubled, unsettled
"a restless night"
offering no physical or emotional rest; involving constant activity or motion.
Aug 2, 2014
Aug 2, 2014 at 6:43 AM UTC
I didn't cry. I couldn't.
I thought I was being strong. Crying isn't weakness though.
I thought I was doing it for the family. I wasn't helping nor hindering anyone.
I made myself ill out of pride. You were diseased.
Cancer victims don't suffer alone. Their loved ones suffer with them.
We don't suffer with pain, no. We suffer with the anxiety of the wish for health or relief.
Never knowing what would come. Always on tenterhooks.
That's just the way life works. Until you left.
Now you've left us. To suffer without you is almost harder.
It's not the death that's tough. It's the living that comes after.
In simple terms, there are three stages. For us watching the victims.
The first. Living a nearly normal life, nothing's wrong.
The second. Accepting the cancer and learning to live with you in pain.
The third. Living without you.
Cancer is mean. Cancer is selfish.
Cancer kills without a cause. Cancer.
Jul 5, 2015
Jul 5, 2015 at 3:39 PM UTC
A strange and potent rapture
Held their eyes upon the ice
As the dancers pranced on razor blades
Each mastered movement seemed so trite
They whirled and leapt without misstep
Beneath a guise of fearlessness
For they knew they scrutinizing board
Could acclaim or else condemn
The crowd was hung on tenterhooks
A crescendo rose amongst the horns
The ovation moment soon at hand
Save just the ****** unperformed
Raving sounds crashed from the pit
As he tossed her into pirouette
A faltered glance, a clumsy catch
They toppled down as good as dead
Jul 14, 2012
Jul 14, 2012 at 2:41 AM UTC
Spoken word.
It ain't about
rhymes
sonnets
Shakespeare, Dickenson, or Poe.
It ain't about
the iambic pentameter flow
or the 5-7-5 of a haiku.
It's about
the heartbeat
the pulse that courses through your very soul in a rhythm that is completely
you.
It is YOU that falls from trembling lips
into the figurative and literal microphone before you;
YOU who breathes life into words that would
otherwise be considered
scribbles on a page.
It's an essence
a way of being
and beating
the drum of your being
that would otherwise have you hanging---
on tenterhooks,
waiting for permission
to raise your voice above the rest
just so you can feel
like you've got something to say.
And child,
you do.
You got a story all your own
a thunder that outnumbers
the roar of the lions that are too busy
with their 9 to 5 to stop
and listen.
So don't think you have to shout
just to be heard
but don't you whisper the words
that mean so much
but can seem so small.
They ain't.
Those words are your fists,
balled up tightly and raised high in the air
demanding the attention of anyone who will just
listen.
They strike
again and again
breaking the air and airwaves
with a newfound
beat
so don't you think
your fists are too small
to mean something
because child, they ain't.
Raise your words high
with that of your peers
and chant them again and again
like it's the last war cry that will ever
be heard
around the world
your voice is strong.
It echoes
and shakes the earth to it's very core
like a stampede
so don't you stop
don't you stay silent now
just step up to the mic like this
will be your legacy
your last words to live by
and the first words to make you
reborn.
Aug 5, 2011
Aug 5, 2011 at 2:31 PM UTC
Fleeting, rolling days, weeks,
years of half-memories with
no faces,
but places - parks,
playgrounds, forests, ditches -
in which youthful time was
spent without a thought for
permanence or preservation.
The "best years of your life"
twisted, tarnished, pastel-
smeared to indistinguishable
faces, places, seasons,
feelings, fears, loyalties -
scrunched up and abandoned;
left to seep inside a clockwork mind
teeming with trivial tenterhooks
and patchwork recollections.
Apr 21, 2015
Apr 21, 2015 at 7:13 PM UTC
press the butter
into my hand
watch it slink away
dissolving oval opal
full moon winter
cold preserves,
or so they tell me.
galvanizing current of blazing unknowns
hung in the sky on tenterhooks
salve and siphon
strung together, web of calloused fingers
don’t need to laminate the little gestures —
just the feelings behind them
poster board picture placement
cull the very thing you’ve ignored
the shore shakes and shimmers
and i can endure this ocean no more.
Oct 15, 2014
Oct 15, 2014 at 3:02 PM UTC
String of raindrops fall to its quite melody
Rhyme with the breeze of a vocal splendor of black daisy
To the tune of every bee sip the nectar while accessing the anthers and pistil
Made music to a garden of daffodils in April
A sharpen affection piercing a stone amethyst
Asunder of its composure with a helpless catalyst
A scattered pieces spells the truth of an essence is out of worth
The antidote of intoxication has been futile a miasma to a path
Gaze into a night sky grid-like segments of stars in sight
A semblance of a two sign that shines so bright at night
Vast Ocean of complicated happiness sinks a deepest peaceful loneliness
Wide-ranging terrestrial of verdict congeal with annoyance of fate
Precession of equinoxes changed twice a thousand years
A tenth cycle in which Pisces and Taurus situate vertigo in twelfth mensis
A Supreme Being fills the gap of distant in a long period of time
Keep on tenterhooks as the time goes by
Apr 9, 2015
Apr 9, 2015 at 6:58 AM UTC
He is not the one I am looking for
I just took him into consideration
I tried
And I was smiling for a time
I was on an upbeat mood
I was still trying
I was on tenterhooks for a while
We are both anticipating
He opened his door for me
Only to see his inconsistencies
I couldn't tolerate them
So I did not come in
My consideration ended
Jul 21, 2013
Jul 21, 2013 at 9:19 PM UTC
You delay my salary and incentives
But expect me to stay positive
On work, do you want me to pace up
But you yourself don't pace up
When it comes to paying my dues
Fed up am I, with you!
You delay my salary and incentives
But my work, am I supposed to love
You keep me on tenterhooks
How can you be in my good books?
You delay my salary and incentives
However, the revenue, am I expected to drive
This is so ******* unfair
But you don't seem to care!!
You delay my salary and incentives
Lame reasons, do you give
Seriously, do you expect me to buy them?
Act, I will not, according to your whims!!
You delay my salary and incentives
With respect to the latter, has it been months
All this while, have I been very patient
Always bearing the brunt
Of your constant nagging and scolding
However, is there a limit to everything
The exact words of my grandfather
Now, have I reached the end of my tether
Always, do you want me to deliver
Now, it's time for YOU to deliver
That's all I can say!!
Jun 5, 2024
Jun 5, 2024 at 8:34 AM UTC
See the kettle boiling
(Ate the biscuit long ago)
Have to let it brew a while
Tenterhooks are all aglow
Nervous system ready
For the stimulating brew
{sip}
Oh my goodness gracious
Too amazing to be true
For the answer scroll down
C See the kettle boiling
8 (Ate the biscuit long ago)
H Have to let it brew a while
10 Tenderhooks are all aglow
N Nervous system ready
4 For the stimulating brew
O Oh my goodness gracious
2 Too amazing to be true
C8 H1O N4 O2 – The Caffeine Molecule
Mar 29, 2021
Mar 29, 2021 at 8:58 AM UTC
Bring a stone for our feet
and we'll study the contours of our bodies
with fingers grappling like tenterhooks
Dig our palms into bared flesh
and we will spill laughter from our mouths
down our collars, our throats
like spirited red wine
I will lose my foothold to run my toes
across your ankles
And with hilarity
staining our clothes
your arms will collar me to you
So when your lips find mine
we will tumble to the embrace of the rippling sea
And kiss
and breathe
underwater.
Aug 23, 2014
Aug 23, 2014 at 9:26 AM UTC
what if there are no signs?
what if there was one?
and I missed it?
because I was happy
in your happiness
what if I missed
the single tear
that fell down your face
and was licked away
at the corner of your smile
what if I was happy
you were happy
(because you said so)
so I, I don't know,
I like, started keeping pace
with the anomalies in my life
I took my glance
away from you
for just a second
and everything wasn't
all right?
What if there were
no signs
but they were as subtle
as the first snow
if I forever live
on tenterhooks
I'd know!
but...
if I miss a sign
and the edge appears
on a knife
I'm consigned
to live a half life
Sep 2, 2014
Sep 2, 2014 at 3:43 AM UTC
What do you really want from us?
We've been working our arses off
For hours and hours
Days and days
Weeks and weeks
Months and months
And we've faced numerous obstacles along the way
Obstacles placed by the market
By the candidates to whom we've been speaking
And by even yourselves!!
In spite of all these hurdles
We've done our best
To ensure that you get the right people
For the requirements you've assigned us
However, the way in which you reciprocate our actions
Is bewildering, to say the least
As far as decision-making is concerned
You're even worse than Hamlet!
You reject a lot of quality resumes
Without any rhyme or reason
You change your requirements
As per your whims and fancies
And then cry foul
When you lose a few good candidates
Due to your inexplicable actions
You put roles on hold at random
And keep the best candidates on tenterhooks
Waiting for an interview that'd never happen
And then blame them for dropping out eventually
You demand resumes at the speed of a cheetah
And provide feedback at the speed of a tortoise
All in all, you ensure that we tear our hair out
By its very roots
Every waking moment of our lives
In order to satisfy every whim of yours
But will you truly ever be satisfied?
Let me ask you again
What do you really want from us?
Aug 29, 2022
Aug 29, 2022 at 11:53 AM UTC
pattern set, the loom is idle.
slaying the reed is over,
task of threading done.
hope over holiday,
a thread may fall.
the mill is a place of
meeting, greeting
this new year.
tenterhooks.
the pattern is set,
in stone.
sbm.
Jan 3, 2014
Jan 3, 2014 at 1:39 AM UTC
inside your head, I live with broken words competing as company
we try every time and almost, it works
perhaps we try too hard?
I gave you things I thought you'd like
now, I feel a total fool with missed cell chance
and silence roaring in my midnight ears.
this skill you hold so high, I am fearful
on tenterhooks, step hunched on eggshell
I'd hate to lose you.
Mar 20, 2014
Mar 20, 2014 at 8:06 PM UTC
She's constantly looking at her watch, gazing around, anticipating an entity, on tenterhooks
She rambles and wanders, agitated
Until she felt a soft brush against her shoulder
"Where have you been? I've been looking for you. You're 30 minutes late"
As she mumbles and fumbles in distress,
her eyes were hooked to another pair of blue eyes, across the alley
Their movements were in recognition
She was at the wrong venue all this while
She suddenly lose her words
Her lips were anchored as she witnesses
Those pair of blue eyes, were sparkling in brilliance, meeting another pair of blue eyes
Their hands locked as they marched away together
She grabs her sore chest, grieving, howling, queering the pitch
Her mind dwelt away, bewildered in her own sentiment
Ignoring the entity next to her, he was in obscure silence
"I've been waiting for you patiently, my whole life" he uttered.
She found the wrong person, at the right time
While he found the right person, at the wrong time
Their tides of life crashing
Their path were inextricably intertwined,
for a reason
Time and fate swears to conspire with the universe
To discover what lies ahead for them
May 25, 2017
May 25, 2017 at 3:04 PM UTC
The curves of your sleeping body
leave me on
tenterhooks -
the space between dreams
and waking
a pause -
the arch of your back shining
like the moon
translucent -
a slice of time preserved in the
maze of my
memory
Sep 11, 2016
Sep 11, 2016 at 2:19 PM UTC
Is the end nigh?
I fear for you
I grieve
I cry
I worry you’re going to leave
And how I’m going to cope
You’re pallor is grey, you’re weary
And why I do not know
I wish I could make you better
But I don’t know where to start
I love you more than you know
You’re embedded in my heart
You’ve been here my whole life
I’ve never known a world without you
If this is it then give me strength
To be there and see you through
Watching you suffer this way
Tears me totally apart
I go for I can’t bear to stay
And watch you drift, depart
On tenterhooks we wait
For the outcome of your tests
I gave you the only gift I could
The return of the one you love best
Hoping together
You’ll find a way
To face what’s in store
And celebrate
The time you have left
For I fear it is little
Thus it is precious
Though weak and brittle
Make the most of it, please
Put your weapons down
Call a truce
The time is now.
Aug 9, 2018
Aug 9, 2018 at 5:16 PM UTC