Riddles
 

How about we all write some riddles?

I'll start us off with a very short one. I won't post the solution to start, but maybe I'll edit it in later (possibly in white text you need to highlight to see).

By the way, I've made this a "no index" thread, so fear not Google.

Riddle

On earth, it's almost everywhere.
Its first is found midway through death.
Its second is the name we share.
Its third is heard in every breath.

PS (with hint)--
For those who don't read many riddles, there's a long tradition in riddles of using "first" and "second, " etc., to refer to the letters spelling the solution to the riddle. This is the first riddle I ever wrote using that convention, since I generally prefer riddles geared toward the Thing itself rather than to the spelling of the Thing.

Good one, Roger. Some riddles are extremely devious and almost impossible to solve but you played very fair.

Here's a really easy one which I adapted from an ancient riddle I found in The Oxford Book of Nursery Rhymes:

What's my name?
I'm a check-out girl,
I've loads of men,
there's Grant an' Earl,
there's Stig an' Sven,
there's Jess an' Jake an' Joe an' James.
Now I've told you all their names
an' told you mine - again an' again,
so what's my name?
Ann

A Riddle
 

Consider the ends of Oriental verse:
lines specific, resonant, and terse.

Beyond the printed page, the fancy fonts,
they frame the thing that every poet wants.

Now add, when doctors speak and you obey,
the alpha and omega of what you say.

If you put these together, you will see
my answer and announce your victory.


Consider the ends of Oriental verse:
lines specific, resonant, and terse.

HaikU

Beyond the printed page, the fancy fonts,
they frame the thing that every poet wants.

ReadeR

Now add, when doctors speak and you obey,
the alpha and omega of what you say.

AaaahhH

When you put these together, you will see
my answer and announce your victory.

HU + RR + AH = hurrah

Those who have me are assured
of sanity and heyday;
those who don't are unsecured
by mastery or payday.


[I'm saving some other riddles to sub to your Bumbershoot, RS.]

Answer: A sense of humor

Thanks, Terese. I wouldn't rule out riddles posted here, though. That's part of the reason I made this a Google-free Zone. I'm hoping this thread will be fun for everyone and riddle making will prove contagious. We've already received some remarkable contributions, and I have a feeling there are many more to come.

Probably too easy for this erudite crowd:


Playful Words

Weighed down by doubt, I can’t attack.
I must unpack
the heavy metaphors that hurt
my heart,
replacing arrows, slings, and swords
with words
that will outwit my uncle’s wards,
trap the mouse—my mother’s dear
defiler of her husband’s ear:
I must unpack my heart with words.

Okey dokey. I'm still working on them, will post something when it's ready.

Roger...I think I've got the answer. I'll put it in white text below in case others are still working on it:

Is it: "air"?

I start within both thick and thin
And after carry on
To spell the end of rancor; sin
Runs rampant when I'm gone.


Answer: "Honor".

It's been a long time since Ralph posted his, so I'll give the answer: Hamlet, of course.

Here's one more from me. Is anyone working on answers? :(

It’s said I am unchangeable but shifting,
that I have captured souls, but am uncaught;
no one knows the eons I’ve been drifting
through time—unknown, unseen, but not unsought.

Answer: karma

You correctly divined the answer to my riddle, I'm happy to say.

Other than Hamlet, I haven't been able to figure out other people's riddles myself. If the poet or some clever person would start posting answers, I'd be grateful. I'm not very good at solving these things, I'm afraid, though that doesn't keep me from going back and enjoying them after I'm told the answer.

This one's from my book 'The Whitworth Gun' and I reckon you'll get it, Roger.

pulp fiction


the big sleep, the high window,
the little sister, the long goodbye.

the long awakening, the wee small door,
the high sister, the big hallo.

the long sleep, the long window,
the long sister, the short goodbye.

the sleeping sister, the long littleness,
the windowed brevity, the brief adieu

the soaring casement,
the colossal slumber,
the female sibling of less-than-average stature,
the unattenuated leavetaking

(farewell my lovely lady in the lake)

playback

I've been doing the April "poem a day" and riddles are a good way to keep on pace. Here are some I've done over the last week (solutions are in white -- highlight near the end to find them):

RIDDLE

I have a kick, and yet no feet.
I'm good as new, and yet I'm shot.
I'm loaded, but I'm never drunk.
I am not food, but hit the spot. [gun]


RIDDLE

Your eyes are closed
but you can spy
a flock of eagles
in the sky

right beside you
as you soar
beyond the clouds . . . .
and as you snore.

You fell asleep,
but that's not all.
Thanks to me,
you fall and fall.

You fell asleep.
You closed your eyes.
But thanks to me,
you rise and rise. [a dream]


RIDDLE

I do not need my music.
With words, I could get by.
I do not need my lyrics.
Far more than words am I.

But may they both not fail me.
I could not bear the cost.
With either, I can find me.
With neither, I am lost. [a song]


RIDDLE

Except when I'm blinking
my eye remains closed
and yet in those moments
the world is exposed. [a camera]

Can we have some answers, please? I'm not that bright and I get quite frustrated with some of these. Roger's and Shaun's system of writing the answer in white is a good one.

Well, the answer to John's is Raymond Chandler.

Frank

Riddle answer
 

As requested, I have edited in the answer to the riddle I posted above.
Jan

I have put the answer for mine as well.

[quote=Roger Slater;103397]I've been doing the April "poem a day" and riddles are a good way to keep on pace. Here are some I've done over the last week (solutions are in white -- highlight near the end to find them):[indent]

RIDDLE

I have a kick, and yet no feet.
I'm good as new, and yet I'm shot.
I'm loaded, but I'm never drunk.
I am not food, but hit the spot. [gun]


Well, I guessed this was a gun, and guessed another was a song. I haven't even seen these till today, and already the answers are up. But isn't it more fun if the answers are guessed? Why not give hints?

One hint about mine--the answers are not palpable.

Bob, you should have titles--they can't all be called "Riddle"! Even numbers would be better than no title at all, at least for purposes of identification.

John, haven't looked to see whether you gave an answer, but it reminds me of Alice's Adventures etc.

Stumped on the others.

Terese, maybe I'm the minority view here, but to me the real mark of a good riddle isn't its difficulty, and the real fun of a riddle isn't guessing the answer. The mark of a good riddle poem is whether it remains enjoyable and significant even after one knows the answer. The "guess the answer" aspect is really just a pose, I think. We certainly don't want all the fun to be gone when we know the "answer." In a way, many riddles just do what much poetry does, i.e., allow us to see common things in a new light, but the writer of a riddle underlines that aspect by turning it into a puzzle to be solved.

I suppose I'm speaking of the ideal riddle, though. There are many riddles that amount to no more than little puzzles, and they can also be fun. Still, I confess that I am quick to look at the answers when they are available, and I can still appreciate (or perhaps greater appreciate) the riddle's ironic pose when I am in on the irony.

First, may I say that I entirely skipped Frank's post with the answer to John's. Of course it's Raymond Chandler--and yet isn't it odd how it has a relationship to Lewis Carroll? Now I have to wonder whether Chandler was scrambling Carroll's eggs for breakfast.

Sigh...Bob. Some of what you say is true. I do take exception to the word "pose," however! And I object to the short attention span one is assumed to have in the Age of Technological gadgetry. Why can't those who want to work at it keep doing so? I like to see others' guesses and wonder about my own or lack thereof...

In any case, I've posted the answers in white for those who feel they can't wait.

I've also typed in white the answer to my riddle.

Posted my answers in white, as noted above

OBSCURE RIDDLE

I'm right there up against your skin,
upon your head, before your eyes,
between the stars in sunless skies,
within the heart of deadly sin,

and yet I can't be viewed in light.
I do not take an eye to see,
or do I? Yes, improbably,
though blind men know my face by sight.

(darkness)

When you were young I held you high,
although you turn your back to me
but don't stand up and do not lie,
and I'll still bear you patiently.

Chair


[Answer posted in white]

Bob, yours is Darkness.

(Too easy)

Too easy for what? I'm not giving away my daughter's hand in marriage to the one suitor who can answer the riddle. The question for me is whether it's a good poem in the voice of darkness, not whether you know it's darkness speaking.

J. Patrick Lewis has a riddle where the answer is "a peacock." The last line of the riddle is "I am your biggest fan." You can only see the humor if you know the answer. So knowing the answer doesn't ruin the poem, it makes the poem. The riddle part is just an enjoyable add-on.

You sound angry, Bob, but I hope that's a mirage. No one said knowing the answer ruins the poem, of course. And while that may (partially? You didn't quote the entire riddle) be true in Lewis' riddle, it's certainly not always true. For me, the challenge of a good riddle poem is much like that of any riddle: to sort out the challenge in the riddle and wrack your brain (trial and error!) trying to figure it out. I've always thought a good riddle is supposed to be challenging.

There may be irony in the riddle poem before the answer is known, and I like those a lot. A difficult riddle gives you something to play with, spend some time on, like any puzzle. Children's riddles are another category, and the age of the child will be relevant.

To respond to something you said earlier, the fun of the riddle is not gone when the answer is known, in any case. There may be various layers of irony, and one still has to see whether the answer is really all there in the riddle, or whether other possible responses also follow the logic. Which, imo, isn't as neat as when there's only one possible answer.

It's an educational exercise, and the more irony the better. Whether the answer makes the riddle or not--well yes, but equally so is the challenge of the answer. It's a game. Games are played to win as well as to pass the time, have a learning experience and a laugh, match wits, and so on.

In any case, putting "Obscure" in the title pretty much gives it away.

May we ask some questions?

Jan, forgive my ignorance, but I don't see what "RR" has to do with your second stanza.

Mirage, Terese. I'm not even slightly angry. But as someone who rarely solves riddles on his own, I'm invested in saying that solving the riddle is a relatively minor part of enjoying the riddle. But since Homer is said to have died out of frustration at not being able to solve a particular riddle, I can see that other people take the solving part a bit more seriously.

As far as Jan's riddle is concerned, though I certainly would not have guessed it in a million years, and I'm certain it could have killed Homer, I can well understand the explanation Jan gives in the white text. ReadeR -- the RR frame what every poet wants, a "reader", no?

Apparently I'm way too dumb to be able to understand "eade" mixed into the code. I thought it was some kind of advanced code. Gad.

I think I see what you're saying. But the way I look at it, the word reader is framed by the two letter R's, not the word eade --or at least it's fair to look at it that way.

I wear a cap but have no clothes;
some say I’m nutty in the head.
Perhaps it’s from the fall I had –
that tumble to a leafy bed.

acorn

Ooh, maybe Terese is right. I've figured out Petra's and it does feel good. I suspect it must be an easy one, since I was able to solve it in just a few minutes . . . but not instantly, so I had the fun of wondering, too.

Shucks, it was too easy.
What do you make of this...?


I have a nice rear view of you
and I see your entire hand.
Excuse me if I break your hush --
it's a straight flush!

toilet

It's more than fair, and "eade" is also framed by a number of B's...sort of a stuttering effect. Bold--oh the complexities! :rolleyes:

Petra, I've got both of yours. Quickly. Here they are in white (haven't looked to see whether you put your answers in white as well).

Acorn & mirror

Terese, you got the second one wrong. It's not a mirror. I've now put the answers below the riddles.

I didn't have a guess for the "flush" one myself, though now I see it makes sense, except perhaps the word "hand," which I don't quite get. Maybe something more like "I can see what you've been dealt"? And for the third line, "Please excuse me if I gush"? Anyway, the acorn riddle is quite solid, and if it's a bit on the easy side, it's just right for children.

It's a toilet's-eye view. Go figure.
I wonder if this one is better:


My darling, I can barely hear
the pounding of your raptured heart:
you've put your fingers in my ears.
But now you press your lips to mine
as though we've never been apart.
You send me to the heights -- divine!

A loving cup

Oy! Still, a mirror is also a correct answer, isn't it?

On your latest, Petra, how about [see white below]

an ear of corn

except for the final line, which is a stretch with that answer.

With very little confidence, I'm guessing Petra's latest is a

bagpipe

Hilarious! Try again, both of you.

* * *
Your answers weren't bad, but they were so different from each other that I laughed.