On Tender Hooks
- by Brian Bilston
Let me cut to the cheese:
every time you open your mouth,
I’m on tender hooks.
You charge at the English language
like a bowl in a china shop.
Please nip it in the butt.
On the spurt of the moment,
the phrases tumble out.
It’s time you gave up the goat.
Curve your enthusiasm.
Don’t give them free range.
The chickens will come home to roast.
Now you are in high dungeon.
You think me a damp squid:
on your phrases I shouldn’t impose.
But they spread like wildflowers
in a doggy-dog world,
and your spear of influence grows.
That is the definition of trust.
Barbara – I’m standing up but this still went over my head.
Does Barbara mean that zippers are untrustworthy on terra firma and should not be considered integral to the function of a craft on the briny sea?
Laurna – Dunno. Mayhap. This particular zipper was integral only to the functioning of those plastic panels that they lower as translucent wind/rain screens, so there wasn’t much functional risk involved. But it did make a nice counterpoint to all those ropes.