Riddle-Ku! [metal snake]

Riddle-ku (National Poetry Month 2014)

 

Riddle-Ku of the Day

I’m a metal snake
whose flickering silver tongue
bites into your lunch
–Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved
?


HINT 1:

fork_sq_z_500

 

HINT 2:

fork_sq_500

TITLE (AND ANSWER):

FORK

 

[Educators, please click here to see a roundup of the entire month’s riddle-ku and also to get suggestions for using these riddle-ku with your students.]

UPDATE: My riddle-ku are now available in Kindle and paperback as Riddle-ku: Haiku for Very Close Reading (along with tons of great auxiliary materials for teachers), part of the 30 PAINLESS CLASSROOM POEMS series.

riddle-ku-FINAL-kindle
Riddle-ku: Book 2 in the 30 Painless Classroom Poems series

40 Responses

  1. My kids got the answer! This is a great thing to do with haiku–make riddles! Actually for homeschool next week, my son and I are going to study haiku. I’ll have to have him try a riddle one! Thanks for the idea.

    1. Thanks, Tina–riddle poems are really fun to write. I hope your son has a blast!

  2. My kids got the answer! This is a great thing to do with haiku–make riddles! Actually for homeschool next week, my son and I are going to study haiku. I’ll have to have him try a riddle one! Thanks for the idea.

    1. Thanks, Tina–riddle poems are really fun to write. I hope your son has a blast!

  3. Thank you for doing this exercise all month Laura. I will be right there with you. SALAS POWER FOREVER!

    FORK
    A shiny pronged spear
    Piercing parts of this or that
    For your consumption.

    © Charles Waters 2014 all rights reserved.

    1. Love this–I toyed with the idea of a spear metaphor, too. I decided to try to be accessible all the way down to K‑1, so mine are going to be pretty simple. Love those piercing parts.

  4. Thank you for doing this exercise all month Laura. I will be right there with you. SALAS POWER FOREVER!

    FORK
    A shiny pronged spear
    Piercing parts of this or that
    For your consumption.

    © Charles Waters 2014 all rights reserved.

    1. Love this–I toyed with the idea of a spear metaphor, too. I decided to try to be accessible all the way down to K‑1, so mine are going to be pretty simple. Love those piercing parts.

  5. I got it! I hope you don’t mind; I’m going to copy each one & keep a file so I can share with classes Laura. Thanks for this, & for the teacher pages too. Happy day!

  6. I got it! I hope you don’t mind; I’m going to copy each one & keep a file so I can share with classes Laura. Thanks for this, & for the teacher pages too. Happy day!

    1. Ooh, braces. Nice! It would actually be lovely for me to hear what ELSE kids guess besides the answer I had in mind. Thanks for sharing!

    1. Ooh, braces. Nice! It would actually be lovely for me to hear what ELSE kids guess besides the answer I had in mind. Thanks for sharing!

  7. Laura, my writing group meets tonight and your example with the fork gave me an idea for Riddle-ku as an exercise to share with my peers. I won’t be presenting pictures but my theme is spring cleaning and items found that once were lost. Hopefully the verses formed are illusive enough to offer mystery, yet familiar enough that they can identify the found object. Chances are the children would be quicker with an answer than my group will. ;-))

    1. Oh, that sounds like fun, Martha! Yeah, kids are pretty good at this stuff:>) Have a great time!

    2. I’m in Martha’s writing group and her riddles were fun! Thanks for this idea, Laura.
      I’ve been working on poems for children, so this fits right in. Now if only I can get my creativity working as well as the kids 🙂

      1. I bet they were, Pat. Glad my feature sparked something. Have you guys seen WHEN RIDDLES COME RUMBLING, an older collection by Rebecca Kai Dotlich. It’s *fabulous*! Check it out:>)

          1. Yay–I think it’s the first set of riddle poems I ever read (not that there are many around), and I just love it.

  8. Laura, my writing group meets tonight and your example with the fork gave me an idea for Riddle-ku as an exercise to share with my peers. I won’t be presenting pictures but my theme is spring cleaning and items found that once were lost. Hopefully the verses formed are illusive enough to offer mystery, yet familiar enough that they can identify the found object. Chances are the children would be quicker with an answer than my group will. ;-))

    1. Oh, that sounds like fun, Martha! Yeah, kids are pretty good at this stuff:>) Have a great time!

    2. I’m in Martha’s writing group and her riddles were fun! Thanks for this idea, Laura.
      I’ve been working on poems for children, so this fits right in. Now if only I can get my creativity working as well as the kids 🙂

      1. I bet they were, Pat. Glad my feature sparked something. Have you guys seen WHEN RIDDLES COME RUMBLING, an older collection by Rebecca Kai Dotlich. It’s *fabulous*! Check it out:>)

          1. Yay–I think it’s the first set of riddle poems I ever read (not that there are many around), and I just love it.

  9. I love this! And I love that the closeup photos can be riddles themselves, encouraging kids to really look closely.

    Oh how I love April!

    1. Thanks, Tricia! I wish I could really take super-close-ups. Many of mine are very obvious–but some will be a bit trickier:>)

  10. I love this! And I love that the closeup photos can be riddles themselves, encouraging kids to really look closely.

    Oh how I love April!

    1. Thanks, Tricia! I wish I could really take super-close-ups. Many of mine are very obvious–but some will be a bit trickier:>)

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