To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
~ Thomas Edison
CLEAR AS MUD. DEAD AS A DOORNAIL. THICK AS THIEVES.
by Heather McHugh
Old hat. Close shave. Hair of the dog. His birthday suit.
By the seat of one's pants--i.e., by the skin of one's teeth.
By a whisker--i.e., by a nose. Cut the apron strings--tie the knot!
Put it on the back burner--put it on ice!
Rob the cradle, rock the boat. Dead heat. Live wire.
Cloud nine a lick away from seventh heaven.
A bone to pick, and a hatchet to bury. The devil
and the deep blue sea. Don't open up that can of worms.
In stitches. On tenterhooks. [What lingo could be lovelier?]
In the red is bad, but in the pink is where you want to be.
Head in the clouds (but tongue in cheek).
Pull his leg. Bend his ear. Put his foot in his mouth.
(Fine fettle. On a shoestring. Under the belt.
The hang of it. The short end of the stick.)
On the QT. Last laugh. Off-color. In a blue moon.
His number's up. His better half is on the rampage.
Spilled beans. (Spilled milk.) Wild oats. Last straw.
Scapegoat. Fur is flying. Inch of his life. Step on it!
(Sleep on it.) Forty winks. Get up on the bed's wrong side.
Under the weather. Like a ton of bricks.
Second wind. Water under the bridge.
No longer wet behind the ears. A new leaf.
(Spur of the moment? Nick of time!)
So mum's the word? You said it."
More Poems
