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Poetry of the Week
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.

Posted: 2025 Apr 20
Face Photos from Readers
Thanks to John Whitman for this slightly dismayed face from downtown Ottawa.

This space is available for other submissions.