Speaking in Riddles

Description

Author Sharon Chmielarz, best known for her wry and subtle poems, here turns her attention in a slightly different direction, to word-puzzles that actually have a solution--often more than one. The language is as pleasant and evocative as always, but the challenge is perhaps greater. Answers are provided in the back.

Here's one to try out:
I can be dark and sombre.
I can be bright as sequins,
many sequins, sewn on.
I can host a moon, a cat, or a snout.
Or even your embroidered name.
My trouble, I muffle.
My mantra, semper fidelis.
My motto, do or die.

Here's amother one:

The head, for all its genius, is limited
to nodding and shaking, but these
nimble creatures switch easily from
giving direction to talking without a mouth.
Just one of them, pushed into your chest
ain't a sign of love, Bub. A Je t'accuse can
precede a firing squad and is sweatily close
to a tongue's lashing or the preacher's wagging.

Still these bony ones can make a cashmere Come here.

Or discretely wipe a tear
or guide a nub across a paper.