I read the answer in white. I never would have gotten it.

Here's my poem-a-day for tomorrow (I already did one for today), another riddle. I think it's particularly easy since it gives several more clues than you need to solve it. It may be two riddles with the same answer if I choose to break off the last two couplets into a separate riddle:


RIDDLE

Although my job is to divide,
the whole wide world is on my side.

Those who wish to cross a border
often wish that I were shorter.

But those who'd rather just stay put
might wish me taller by a foot.

I'm posted here, although it takes
an effort not to pull up stakes.

If not for me, a thief might stroll in
and all your stuff might well be stolen

and sold to the man who shares my name,
although our jobs are not the same.

Good one, Bob! Answer below, how about:

a fence!

Petra, that was cool. I looked too. "The heights" makes it different from a ewer, say.

I'm sure this is wrong, but so far it's all I can think of (in white):
a chess pawn

At times I'm full of might
but even so I have no strength.

A chick or bird can bear my name
but so can flight that ends in fright.

I'm known to disappear at length
but come back just the same.

may/May

Petra, I wrote one to fit your most recent guess in white:


RIDDLE

It's just not fair
my name alone
has come to mean
a sort of drone
who has no thought
to call his own

but does exactly
what he's told.
The other members
of my fold
are equally
oppressed, controlled,

pushed along
from square to square
with wooden brains
that do not care
but blindly move
from here to there

as those who move us
plot to win
or line us up
to rebegin
a game we are not
truly in.
 
 

Pity Me! Riddle

I'm useful on occasion
but often left to lurk,
my powers of persuasion
applied to busywork.
The media may scorn me
and give me little credence
but terrorists still warn me
of personal impedance.

Too Easy Riddle
 

I have a ledge from which to “fledge,”
A turret (but defer it).
Before my kind was in decline,
We thrilled to overkill.


I'll post answers in a few days. I don't want to spoil the fun for people with no will power.

I'm terrible at solving these.
My answer to the "Pity Me" riddle is...
a blogger???

Bob, the one you wrote about my answer is nice. I think I might have been able to solve it if I hadn't known the solution. I like the gun riddle the best so far. It was easy but very clever.

Terese, the Easy Riddle has some cool rhymes
And here's my answer...
passenger pigeon

Petra,

re your two answers:

Sorry!

Today's riddle:

UNFAIR RIDDLE

This riddle isn't fair.
It sports a phony clue.
I'm bigger than a bear
and daylight makes me blue.
Nearby I'm filled with air,
but empty far from you.
Look up, you'll see me there,
a pointy leather shoe.
This riddle isn't fair.
What part, though, is untrue?
I'm the limit. Dare
shoot for me. I'm who?

Bob,

Here are the answer & the false clue in white:

the sky

false clue = the shoe

And here are the answers to my last two:

Pity Me! Riddle: the Vice President of the US

Too-Easy Riddle: a Wall Street CEO

Today's poem-a-day riddle. (Remember, folks, that I mostly write for children, so the tone and the answers are supposed to be at least a little easier than for the adult set who do the Times crossword puzzle in ink).

RIDDLE

I used to be quite useful,
until your birth, that is.
But now, to be quite truthful,
I have no purposes.

I peek above your beltline,
an eye that cannot see,
a sketch, the merest outline
of the thing I used to be.

RIDDLES

1.

A ring, a wheel, a hula hoop,
  an inner tube, a necklace,
share with me a common trait,
  and yet it would be reckless

for you to eat them up like me.
  They're neither sweet nor creamy.
I love their holes, I must admit,
  but it takes more to be me.


2.

The typing kind don't seem to know
  that after A comes B.
The music kind don't seem to know
  that H must follow G.

They don't share many attributes,
  as any fool can tell.
And yet they share a single name,
  and both can cast a spell.


3.

I'm not the real McCoy. I'm just a fake.
I'm not an ocean, river, pond or lake.
I'm not a bay, a quay, or a lagoon.
Yet pay a visit some hot afternoon
and you will think me worthy of the sea.
Approach my bricky shore. Then jump in me.


4.

I'm red as an apple
and equally sweet.
I have the same shape
and we're both a great treat.

But here is the point
where resemblances stop:
No one says Please!
with an apple on top!
 

*
 
Answers hightlighted under this line:
1. Donut
2. Keys (typewriter and piano)
3. Pool
4. Cherry

After the Passenger Pigeon Disaster, I decided not to read any more riddles. But I'm back anyway and glad to say that I solved three of the riddles you posted today, Bob. I didn't get the one with the A & B, H & G.
Since my own riddles got too hard to solve, I've come up with a simpler one:


Although we'll never straighten out,
don't mistake our curves for sags:
the bunch of us are snuggled tight
inside our yellow sleeping bags.
.