a hook used to fasten cloth on a drying frame or tenter – https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2020/11/03/rdp-tuesday-tenterhooks/

The phrase “on tenterhooks” means “waiting nervously for something to happen.” A tenterhook is literally a sharp hook that fastens cloth to a tenter, a frame on which cloth is stretched, like a tent, for even drying to prevent shrinkage.

The sound of silence is deafening
as the country waits
on tenterhooks
for the outcome of
today’s Presidential Election.

©2020 CBialczak