Riddle-Ku! [chase dirt]

Riddle-ku (National Poetry Month 2014)

 

Riddle-Ku of the Day

I chase dirt all day 

My bristles race trash to the
dustpan finish line 

–Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

?
?

HINT 1:

broom_sq_z_500

 

HINT 2:

broom_sq_500

 

 

.PhotosPPhPho

Photos by Laura Purdie Salas

TITLE (AND ANSWER):

BROOM

 

[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

 

30 Responses

  1. Laura, These are really quite fun. How do you have time to write with all you do on your website?
    I’m working hard to keep up my LentenJourney2014 site and don’t have time for much else. Still waiting to hear from a publisher about the book. It is so much better as a result of all the feedback I got at the Non-FIction Conference last year. Happy to see how your work is progressing too! Happy Spring!

    1. Thanks, Nancy–and, well, I’m NOT getting much writing done right at the moment. :>( It definitely goes in waves. Non-writing activities (some of them income-producing, and some of them not) take about 90% of my work time. But, I’m hoping to connect more with educators on my blog, which makes it worth the time. Keeping my fingers crossed for good book news for you!

  2. Laura, These are really quite fun. How do you have time to write with all you do on your website?
    I’m working hard to keep up my LentenJourney2014 site and don’t have time for much else. Still waiting to hear from a publisher about the book. It is so much better as a result of all the feedback I got at the Non-FIction Conference last year. Happy to see how your work is progressing too! Happy Spring!

    1. Thanks, Nancy–and, well, I’m NOT getting much writing done right at the moment. :>( It definitely goes in waves. Non-writing activities (some of them income-producing, and some of them not) take about 90% of my work time. But, I’m hoping to connect more with educators on my blog, which makes it worth the time. Keeping my fingers crossed for good book news for you!

  3. I am a fiberglass forest
    Dust bunnies call me home

    I uncurl my silver shell
    My cutter bug lags
    Sweep the dusty floor

    I like your poem Laura I have wonderful news I will be having a story time next mount

  4. I am a fiberglass forest
    Dust bunnies call me home

    I uncurl my silver shell
    My cutter bug lags
    Sweep the dusty floor

    I like your poem Laura I have wonderful news I will be having a story time next mount

  5. We have been reading these riddle Riddle-kus everyday in my 4th grade gate class. We really enjoy them. My favorite one is the fireplace one. They have been challenging but we have got most of them… without the clues. But I have a question. What if you run out of ideas before the month is over? Do you have them already written? Thanks!

    1. Thanks for the feedback–great to hear how different grades respond and are or aren’t able to solve them. I do have them all written already. I wrote most of them on a short trip to the North Shore (of Lake Superior, in Minnesota) back in February. Then I took all the pictures on my iPhone (including some of the more tropical looking ones on a trip to visit family in Florida in March) and dug out a few pictures from my online folders. But there were a few poems written that I couldn’t find/take suitable pictures for (slide, for instance–March in Minnesota is no place to get a sunny picture of a slide–should have found one in Florida!). So I wrote 4–5 brand new ones. Then I revised the poems and made all the posts. Then I decided to record them all on Soundcloud. So I did that and added them to all the posts. Whew! On the plus side, I have all my posts for the entire month ready and scheduled, which is nice. But it was kind of time-consuming ahead of time. That’s probably more than you wanted to know:>) The simple answer is: I think I could write 30 more of these without feeling any shortage of ideas–they were a blast!

  6. We have been reading these riddle Riddle-kus everyday in my 4th grade gate class. We really enjoy them. My favorite one is the fireplace one. They have been challenging but we have got most of them… without the clues. But I have a question. What if you run out of ideas before the month is over? Do you have them already written? Thanks!

    1. Thanks for the feedback–great to hear how different grades respond and are or aren’t able to solve them. I do have them all written already. I wrote most of them on a short trip to the North Shore (of Lake Superior, in Minnesota) back in February. Then I took all the pictures on my iPhone (including some of the more tropical looking ones on a trip to visit family in Florida in March) and dug out a few pictures from my online folders. But there were a few poems written that I couldn’t find/take suitable pictures for (slide, for instance–March in Minnesota is no place to get a sunny picture of a slide–should have found one in Florida!). So I wrote 4–5 brand new ones. Then I revised the poems and made all the posts. Then I decided to record them all on Soundcloud. So I did that and added them to all the posts. Whew! On the plus side, I have all my posts for the entire month ready and scheduled, which is nice. But it was kind of time-consuming ahead of time. That’s probably more than you wanted to know:>) The simple answer is: I think I could write 30 more of these without feeling any shortage of ideas–they were a blast!

  7. Along with the Riddle-Ku, which says so much with such few words, I’m interested in the broom. It’s unique, at least to this southern gal. Thanks for your inspiration, not only to children, but to your grown-up kids.

    1. Thanks, Martha–and it’s just from Target or Home Depot or something. Definitely from a run-of-the-mill store:>)

  8. Along with the Riddle-Ku, which says so much with such few words, I’m interested in the broom. It’s unique, at least to this southern gal. Thanks for your inspiration, not only to children, but to your grown-up kids.

    1. Thanks, Martha–and it’s just from Target or Home Depot or something. Definitely from a run-of-the-mill store:>)

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