Shrouded Shore: The Many Musings of Thom Singleton

  Riddles 6 I come up, go down,  as the world goes around. Earth would be mostly ice, if I wasn’t up there like a shining crown. They stand up in a field. It is a big deal, when a ball goes flying through them. People say they love them right out of the oven, love them so much they’d eat up a dozen. They are little round things, in them little brown things, little brown things so sweet, and very good to eat. I’m a building for learning, Filled with chairs and desks and many good friends, surrounded by a ground for playing. I’m something you catch Not the flu, or a cold. So your nose doesn’t run, but you do, to the goal.   This one is easy for a student like Kai: Some days you go to school, then bring me home. What do you call me, the work you bring home? They’re very good for building things. They push together nicely. You don’t glue or paste them. They fit together precisely. Tell me what kind of bars you like to eat. Are they G Bars, D Bars, V Bars? Handle Bars, Sp...

  Riddles 6 Answer Page. No peeking! Sun Goal posts Chocolate chip cookies School Football Home work Legos Z Bars

  A Conversation With Myself      From the Chinese: K’un ch’ ung erh t’ung      When faced with an impasse, there will be a way through. So, every impasse has a way through? It looks like a maze, a lot of blind alleys, a tunnel without light. It’s going to require something I’ve never done before. That’s scary. So, maybe the “impasse” is just my fear? You’ve got it, brother. It’s just in your head. So, change your thinking. Better yet, get out of your head, And start doing! Creaky back? Start stretching. Weight gain? Exercise routine. Writer’s block? Just write. Getting older? So’s everyone. Do now what you’ll regret not doing later. Pandemic isolation? Learn a new skill. You’ve got the time. Spiritual impasse? Meditate. Read for inspiration. An obstacle is an opportunity for growth. Be the person you’ve always wanted to be. Know that you already are. OK, you win. I’ll do what you suggest. Check-in with me once in a while, though, w...

  Sijo #1 Seeker, consider the frog. The little green yogi sits for hours, Motionless, unblinking, present, tongue ready to catch a fly. Be like him. Acquire patience. Then feel free to spit out the fly.

  Riddles 5 - Connor and Kai, take turns solving them. Down a line you ride, Not vertical, not horizontal, about a 60 degree glide. It’s a fun trip, a bit of a zip, A line turned into a slide. I’m spoked, not spoken. Tired, but not all-in. I move on two-legged power. I move with two things spinning. For me, arms are raised, officially and in celebration. A pass was caught or a run made past an important line of demarcation. The crowd goes wild in celebration. What do you use to smile with When your mouth is covered with a mask? You have two high beams to utilize To take on this happy task. A receiver, a defender. The defender is on him like a glove. They jump, a catch! What am I called? Two possibilities. Receiver’s body goes this way, that way Again, this way, that way,  Quickly!!! Defender’s feet get tangled-up. What is the receiver’s move called? Last 5 seconds of the game. Home team, down by 3, has the ball on the 50 yard line. QB launches the ball into a crowd in the end ...

  Riddles 5 Answer Page Zipline Bike Touchdown Eyes Pass reception and interception Juke Hail Mary

  A Poet’s Heaven on Earth Gravity binds me heavily to Earth, While my spirit yearns for precious rebirth. At least to scale legendary Mount Parnassus, Write poetry in the mountain temple of Muses. My lyrics would cascade down the slopes  With grace and beauty and, for mankind, fond hopes. When we are there… Every breath is a prayer. Every thought a thank you. Every sound a song. Every touch a blessing. Every smile a poem.  Lord, my prayer is this: that I and all others realize our true bliss. 

  Riddles 4 Answer Page Basketball or gym shoes Football Door Football field Bones Computer Z Bars

  Riddles 4 - For Kai: Solve the riddles, and get the reward. It is the solution to the last riddle. They can walk you all over town. But for basketball, they have their greatest renown. Tied up with laces, they can take you to places Of great height, as you jump up and rebound. I have a very sleek form, A form made to go airborne. Made of leather, once pigskin, with air pumped within, I fly like a bolt in a storm. I am quite the swinger, But not a dancer or a singer. I open to the outside, but lock-up what’s inside. When unhinged, people make me a slammer. I am flat as a walk with lines of chalk. Very long in length, it takes speed, skill, and strength To play my game, and not just trash talk. I am tibia, fibula, maxilla, and scapula, Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Each person has 206 of me to support their anatomy. I’m brittle, so be easy on me, will ya? My intelligence is artificial, but so vast and accessible. What I “know” you can get it, in less than a minute, All at the ti...

  Riddles 3 Has a head and a body, But no extremities. It’s to be beat, a rhythmic feat. Tap your feet, if you please. What am I? A four-legged object. You certainly won’t object, For its use to rest from a project. What am I? Grows in vast expanse, Across America’s midlands. Also on heads in rows. What am I? People say to conceal something They whisk it beneath another thing What is this item under which they hide them? A fuzzy, shaggy, for sure, flat thing. Can be silken, gauzy, taffeta, Sheer, chiffon, et cetera. And lined ones are super to stop the eyes of a snooper From peering inside and seeing ya. What am I? Eyes agog Stick up from the bog. Look for a bug With his tongue to mug. What am I? They say I’m a long story. Under cover, a hunt for a quarry. The hunted is the plot, in which The characters find their lot In life, their doom or glory. What am I? 

  Riddles 3 Answer Page Drum Chair Corn Rug Curtains Frog Novel 

  Riddles 2 Like a pancake, but butter and syrup without. Easily traveled, driver can see what’s about. Name sounds like a flier, without a doubt. It’s called great, vast not stout. What am I? Sometimes completely, often partly. Insubstantial, yet can be threatening. Some are found to be with a head in. Where are we headin’ with this riddle? Many different shapes. A color of emerald. Often drapes from tall landscapes. For one season, a welcome herald. What am I? Around it spins. Fast it wings. Huge to us residents. Tiny in the bigger picture of things. What am I? Made of rot, And many minerals. How can we not Appreciate its value. It is, after all, where our food grows, And even makes a place for a wormy milieu. People in the North, I conjecture, Appreciate this thing, no need for a lecture. More than the folks with more southerly exposure. When it gets up, so do my spirits. Because, in winter, there is so little of it. Here’s two of something that smiles, A window to the heart wit...

  Riddles 2 Answer Page Plain Cloud Leaf Earth Soil Sunshine Eyes

  A Message From the Differently Abled, Formerly Known as the Developmentally Disabled Accept me as I am. Pay special attention to me. Give me something to do that’s meaningful. Let me do what I can do for myself. Teach me, don’t just do everything for me. Tolerate my mistakes, for it is from making them that I learn. Be honest with me. Give me some say-so over my life. See how responsible I can be. Know that I, like you, have love in my heart.

  A Reverence for Wilderness What is the modern voyager in the North wanting to discover? From the canoe, he looks to see what is beyond the next headland. On a trail-blazing portage, how to choose the best path where there is none. From a deep sleep, the source of racket outside the tent. (Not a dream, a moose!) This is adventure, but is that all it is?  In the watery wilderness: a rock wall of ancient pictographs. A sacred place for First People. What do these paintings - a sunrise, a moose, canoes - say to us centuries later?   The painter knew the wilderness. This was his world. His painting, a prayer for success in the hunt, for maintaining life. His painting was his reverence, his gratitude. His Spirit and animal Spirit one.  What is today’s wilderness traveler seeking? A return to the natural world. There, affirming his reverence for nature, the world’s and his own. There, finding himself, deepening his commitment to an authentic life. His discovery, once agai...

  Another Georgeism George is age 4 going on 14. During quiet time: Mom, Mom, I have a question. No questions, George. Quiet. Well, I have a statement then.

  Riddles 1 For the answers, you must seek on the “Riddles 1 Answer Page,” but do not first peek! Flies with silvery stealth during the day. Steals a bit of light to later play. On otherwise secret doings as it may. Who or what am I? Can you say? Now the nearby river trickles shallow. Plow and harrow, but leave the field fallow. The soil’s not ready, nor, without me, can the seed grow. Go with the flow: tell me what I am. Do you know? Falls, but never makes a sound, Oft-repeated from sky to ground. Hides all from view, sights unseen, Except by the one bird whose round eyes are keen. Windows, old legend says, to the world of the gods, Whirl in a dark arch above. What could ancient science know, even the most scholarly? Science, then, like balladry, idyllic notions akin to poetry. Poets speak to them, but, in return, they’re mute, Except to whisper in the wind, a language akin to music of the flute. Slow growers, but do so tall and strong. Who am I? In what group do I belong? I begin...

  Riddles 1 Answer Page Moon Rain Night Stars Trees River Wind