Best Tension Poems

That night, in a strange place
I was like a fly
Circling a street light
Reeling…Reeling!
I felt so alone
Fear wrenched my throat
Couldn’t predict
When I would be charred to death

I had heard,
In the cover of dark
Everyone was a robber
Or a masked assassin!

Without a roof over my head
I was like...

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The swordsman who draws his blade
Heart racing at the keening of steel on scabbard 
Tension coiled, poised for the unleashing
Held back by muscles tight with glee.

I am as the soldier, held in stance,
The lioness crouched beneath the concealing grass
As it sways back and forth, as...

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Aye, COVID-19 is here to stay
And we are all living day-to-day
So why must I ask
That you wear your mask?
No one wants what you're giving away!...

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HIGH TENSION

Horizon to skyline traversing panoply of greenery
High over verdant land they drape an elegant catenary

Stark constructs of geometry stand noble tall and fine
Their mission for the nation to forever hold the line...

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sunlight unshaken
in the wind...
motion and quiet
... reconciled

Inspired by a Janet Lewis 1899-1998 phrase...

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Written: February 15, 2024
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I ultimately rule over these stunning valleys,
Elm trees with mossy brows line the alleys.
Where distant peaks arise, calm and azure,
Akin to the strong tripods used...

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To sound the right musical note,
string of the guitar is made taut,
so likewise for our light to shine,
trials we face, make us self-taught.

Stuporous is mind, heart unkind,
insipid stance, clumsy our dance,
floundering about as though blind,
mindful eye alters circumstance.

Notice head and heart, stand apart,
misaligned from the...

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Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see. – Quote by Helen Keller


In the dawn of my existence,
Reaching through the quiet temptations,
Releasing the...

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I shift my eyes slowly from the ground,
up the wall and over to another pair of eyes
that in a moment lock onto mine.
His penetrating stare 
makes my heart thump with force,
the heat from his gaze
brings beads of sweat to my skin.
Lingering in his hypnosis
I have...

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bodies touching
ever so lightly:
wanting more...

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In the fact shifting, below my graces
The path is enlightening in the mist
Open to my senses, I hear nothing
Fog enhanced being walks and does resist

Beyond the shining white shroud, finitely
I see myself in the depths of darkness
Looking outward into the starry light
Surely peeking through the...

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There is tension at the pumps;
folk's eyes look glassy and glazed.
And a sense of frustration;
keeps concerning eyebrows raised.

Feeling they've been bamboozled;
customers contain their rage.
Yet, they curse under their breath,
at the numbers on the gauge.

Siphoning off hard-earned cash;
speculators rob the till.
And manipulate markets;
not caring who foots...

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I can remember a February 
away back in nineteen seventy-four
'Twas a first meeting of my family
and my intended whom I'd spoken for.

Two hour ride to Kentucky's western part
with a basketball game planned to follow 
home-cooked meal - key to a son-in-law's heart.
The tension on both...

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always prided herself on
what she believed to be the
“right way to live,”
standing up straight, abiding
by the rules, going to church,
paying her parking ticket on
time, doing her 9 to 5 gig every
monday thru friday, always
on her soapbox & always
having it easy cause’ she never
got her morality...

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Now Burly Turly weren’t much tall,
In fact, I’d say the man was short—
But he was plum stout to a fault
And fer as nice, he was low a quart.

No matter how big the man was,
They knew ya didn’t cross ol’ Burr,
Them what did soon changed their...

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