Winners of the contest can be found here.
From the riddle posed by King Solomon to the Philistines to the philosophy of riddles put forth by Aristotle to the riddles posed by Gollum to Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit, riddles have a long and rich history and have often been put forth in rhyme (read more here). Join in the tradition with this contest…
RULES: Write a rhyming riddle of any length and paste it in the comments section below with your name and area of residence, such as “John Smith, Colorado” or “Ian Clark, England.” Do not include the answer. Let people guess and then respond with the answer if no one guesses correctly. Up to three submissions allowed per contestant. The riddles should be newly written for the contest.
SUBMISSION FEE: None
DEADLINE: August 11, 2019, 12 midnight EST. Winners announced August 20, 2019.
PRIZE: $100
JUDGE: Advisory Board Member or selected Member poets will judge. (Those who choose not to participate in judging may participate in the contest)
PAST WINNERS
I’m always in one place, and yet
I take you many places.
Let trails on paper not upset
You; put me through my paces!
My problem is, once in a while
I’m caught quite unaware
And lead you on mile after mile—
And also to despair.
Maps?
Or I guess A Map to be specific
Sorry, not maps, Zachary.
Is it GPS?
Or perhaps imagination?
Go, Nivedita!
Perfect!
Spot on!
(Imagination is also a good, imaginative guess.)
Thank you Julian!
I really enjoyed reading this one…
Amazing word play there. The “lead you on mile after mile” is indeed what it does…and quite often at that. 😛
Imagination
Riddle
I have no limbs and yet I leap
Strange tongues have I, yet cannot speak
I do not live and yet I grow;
Dispense my light, but cannot know.
Ah, I think I have it! Flame?
Yes, fire! How clever of you. So quick.
Unless it was not very clever of me…
Thank you, I prefer the theory that we are both terribly smart!
Fire?
This is a beautiful riddle. I don’t think it is simple or too easy.But your imagery is so vivid and hence it is easy to get the association quickly
Kind of you to say what you said below!
N Ram Mumbai India.
One more from me… Just before the finishing line
——
When you’ve figured me out you’ll know I’m unreal,
Yet I rule the hearts of men everywhere!
There are times when I become an ordeal
In those times my spell is so hard to bear
Flower of the night, my scent leaks through days,
Mighty or the meek, I bring hope to all,
Shocking or pleasing,many are my ways
Sometimes I may bring you a wake up call
My role is mostly to de-stress the mind,
Though, at times, I take you to future’s doors,
My language uses a code of some kind,
Its key is locked in the mind’s inner stores!
You could now make this a fairy tale ending,
Tell me my name while the verdict is pending!
Dreams?
Yes, it is dreams!
Riddle
Mine is an unseen power
That draws some to my grasp;
Those there are who can’t resist
Surrender in my clasp.
But others dare defy me
On them I have no claim
I cannot move them in their pride –
They shun me in disdain.
Truth?
Seems to fit, doesn’t it? But not what I was thinking of…
A magnet?
Right again! It’s almost as though we share some common experience.
Noah Hale, Delaware
I won’t be long, but see my great show
Before I’m away, as all things go,
Since it’s my nature to fall then grow
And then live again triumphantly.
I’m heavy, yet my design is light
And by design I’m also night
If I fall from my place on the height
Of thousands of mornings and days.
Wherever I fall I also see
The makes of my work, the work of me
In one of my flares on the same sea
You’ve known me from, wherever you are.
What am I every day and night?
Time
The sun?
Although the world in which I’m not
Is often crass and filthy,
That is no sin of mine; I plead
Emphatically: not guilty.
My world’s online, less often print.
I may arise from haste
Or simple inattention: is
There too much on your plate?
I’m there, but not. I don’t belong.
You notice and you’re vexed
Because propriety demands
You root out such a hex.
My visible stand-in is one
Of seven (or else five);
Or better: it heads nine like it—
Or trails, some must believe.
Those who commit this little crime
Aren’t shamed in many cases.
(Your poet made the same mistake
Above—no real disgrace.)
You’d think some spirit had passed by
Wielding a choosy Hoover.
I may spoil rhymes as they’re spoiled here.
Ban me, they might be truer.
lying
No, Allison
Not lying. (Although white lies might qualify as something people “aren’t shamed” about.)
Auto correct, maybe?
No, J.
Though auto-correct may solve the issue sometimes. Remember, online is the primary, not the only environment that pertains.
Is it the colon or semi-colon?
Pretty sure it’s colon. Clever word play.
No, Zachary
Not colon or semi-colon (or other punctuation mark).
The middle finger?
Camilla Marx, South Africa
I was no stranger to your waking mind
And you have felt me burn within your soul.
I bear your very thoughts, and yet you find
Though all may master me, none may control.
Surely I chart the heart of man: the joy
The love; the fear; the victory and despair.
Lavish I praise then fickle, I destroy;
I mend; I build; I crush beyond repair.
As empires shake and crumble, from their dust
I linger on to praise or to indict.
Though chained, repressed through ages, yet I must
Rise, undeterred, to lift the arm of right.
And though I rail against you, let me be;
You cannot hold me captive and be free.
Oops just realised that I left out two commas – Line 7 should read ‘Lavish, I praise,’ etc. This is what comes of posting late at night I guess!
Great poem, Camilla
and thanks for the editorial comment. I was wondering about the weird word order in line 7: “Lavish I praise …” (No guess from me yet vis-a-vis the riddle.)
Thank you Julian!
Yes I was quite frustrated with myself when I spotted that.
justice
No, but that’s an interesting guess!
Camilla,
Your poem deserves more than one guess. I not at all confident, but something relating to innate bias or disposition, or natural law?
Thank you very much Julian! You and Allison were both on the right track.
Words?
Yes, that’s it!
Mark Stone, Ohio
Shaken, Not Stirred
Whenever the empire was threatened with doom,
the MI6 leaders met in the War Room.
And after a spot of tea, they chose to leaven
the crisis by calling on Double-O-Seven.
Impeccably tailored and sharp as a quill.
The double O meant he was Licensed to Kill.
The hero in twenty-four works of film stemming
from stories and novels penned by Ian Fleming.
He’d arrive at the office of his boss, named M,
and learn of the villains and go after them.
The scoundrels would hatch schemes so brazen and bold:
to kidnap a space ship or steal the world’s gold.
They all sought to kill him, so he could not linger.
Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Auric Goldfinger,
Doctor No, Mr. Big, Kamal Khan, too.
And Klebb with that poisonous spike in her shoe.
The villains had henchmen to help in their cause.
A metal-toothed killer whose nickname was Jaws.
And Odd Job, a chauffeur so dangerous that
he could behead a statue with his bowler hat.
A key chain with stun gas was one of the gadgets he
used in the service of M and Her Majesty.
The beverage for adults that he most preferred:
a vodka martini that’s shaken, not stirred.
He played craps with Lana Wood (Plenty O’Toole)
before she was picked up and tossed in the pool.
He met an assassin in a jacuzzi,
played by the hot Luciana Paluzzi.
His female companions were classy, not wonky:
Diana Rigg, Daniela Bianchi.
But few of his consorts, and maybe not any,
could rival the style of the sweet Moneypenny.
To ladies, quite charming. To bad guys, quite ornery.
Six actors have played him, including Sean Connery.
Recently, Daniel Craig. The other four:
Lazenby, Brosnan plus Dalton and Moore.
And now for the riddle for which you have waited.
I hope that your foray will not be ill-fated.
His “go by” is novel. It’s not off the shelf.
Tell me how would he be introducing himself?
james bond
This is not correct.
Mark Stone, Ohio
Any of the following would be correct:
“Bond. James Bond”
“My name is Bond. James Bond.”
“The name’s Bond. James Bond.”
One can see a video compilation of James Bond introductions by doing a search on “Top 5 James Bond introductions.”
“The name’s Bond. James Bond”
Mark Stone, Ohio
Hip Lingo (an opinion riddle)
My wife made a comment and I almost choked.
She said that I’m too old to utter, “I’m stoked.”
I cannot keep up with hip lingo these days.
At what age should one stop employing this phrase?
Good. Reminds me of a NYer cartoon of years ago: a tombstone with the epitaph “Hey, I’m outta here!”
You might find them on a sidewalk.
They often make people gawk,
though a review would rather mock.
You will find them at the theater
or in a science fiction double feature.
In a way, some live on forever.
Thou wonders of our world will last
For us today soon reach our past
But the strong mind of Man holds itself high
Unspoken are the words that one will die
Our world will stand upon our grave
The destruction we make will soon concave.
Why thou people stay relentless
When soon our world will be lifeless
The oceans will cry itself in dismay
Mankind will always be the one to be repay
The rubbish left on all the sea floors
Will grasp the life of animals doors
O cry the world mankind will ruin
Thy eyes are blind and hearts are black
It is they who have forgotten themselves in a place quite abstract
That a creation much bigger holds earth up high
This prized possession will make human cry
It controls the winds and it reigns with the seas
It holds mountains up high and lets animals free
It carries the weather and life out on earth
What could be this mother that mankind has desert?
Lauren Angelus, California
(I don’t know why it says August 12th, but today right now in California is still the 11th. Hopefully my riddle will still be accepted for this contest:) )
REPOST EDITED
Lauren Angelus, California
Thou wonders of our world will last,
For us today soon reach our past.
But the strong mind of Man holds itself high;
Unspoken are the words that one will die.
Our world will stand upon our grave,
The destruction we make will soon concave.
Why thou people stay relentless,
When soon our world will be lifeless.
The oceans will cry itself in dismay,
Mankind will always be the one to repay.
The rubbish left on all the sea floors
Will grasp the life of animals doors.
O cry the world mankind will ruin.
Thy eyes are blind and hearts are black!
It is they who have forgotten themselves in a place quite abstract.
That a creation much bigger holds earth up high;
This prized possession will make human cry.
It controls the winds and it reigns with the seas.
It holds mountains up high and lets animals free.
It carries the weather and life out on earth.
What could be this wonder that mankind will desert?
Is it something to do with pollution?
Yes, on the right track. But if we are heading towards a polluted world then what aspect of nature are we moving away from.
Lauren, Now that the contest is over, would you be willing to post the answer?
NRam
August 11, 2019
N Ram Mumbai India.
One more from me… Just before the finishing line
——
When you’ve figured me out you’ll know I’m unreal,
Yet I rule the hearts of men everywhere!
There are times when I become an ordeal
In those times my spell is so hard to bear
Flower of the night, my scent leaks through days,
Mighty or the meek, I bring hope to all,
Shocking or pleasing,many are my ways
Sometimes I may bring you a wake up call
My role is mostly to de-stress the mind,
Though, at times, I take you to future’s doors,
My language uses a code of some kind,
Its key is locked in the mind’s inner stores!
You could now make this a fairy tale ending,
Tell me my name while the verdict is pending!
——
I am reposting this riddle again as I seem to have posted in the middle of a conversation. My apologies
N Ram, Now that the contest is over, would you be willing to post the answer?
My apologies. I thought since people had guessed all the answers, (and I had also agreed with the guesses), the matter was settled. Here are my answers:
poem 1: Neither King nor rich I spare—- answer: epidemic
poem 2: wisdom of the countless ages— answer: proverb(s)
poem 3:When you’ve figured me out….. answer: dream(s)
N. Ram. My apologies! I didn’t realize this last riddle had been posted earlier. My bad! Thanks.
Hardly!