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# Scrappy
- URL: https://dianaludwick.com/scrappy/
- Published: 2026-04-19T08:03:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:09:29.000Z
- Description: “Scrappy,” an homage to stubborn persistance and amidst no support. Written April 19, poem 109 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026. Photo, "Designated Survivor: an old yet tiny azalea busy,: by Diana Ludwick (c) 2026.
- Author: Diana Ludwick
- Tags: 2026 Poetry Challenge, Dry Humor, Homage, Poems, April, Azalea, Dryland Gardening, Fall, Garden, Growth, Humor, Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park, Life Finds A Way, Neglect, Persistence, Scrappy, Spring, Stubborn, Summer, Sunday, Survivor, Winter, #Migrated-1792872215677, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-24 20:03

People often ask  
what I grow in my garden  
and I snicker and say:  
"Whatever the earth can   
self-sustain; I practice   
'dryland gardening.'"  
  
I long ago learned  
that my house on the hill  
in a wooded glade  
does not make for   
best friends with low-lying   
foliage, flowers or shrubbery.  
  
In fact, the year or two   
before we moved in,  
our predecessors planted  
a small row of azalea bushes.  
  
And every year I wonder  
aloud to myself in the yard:  
"Are you guys dead?  
Why don't you grow?   
Should I pull you?  
I'll let you go one more year."  
  
And then I forget about them  
and summer comes,  
then fall rain  
and winter bluster  
and then here comes spring.  
  
So once again,   
I'm out here on my  
pollen-cloaked  
bluestone patio.  
  
I'm low to the earth  
getting a close view   
at a stubborn survivor:  
a sole pink bloom.  
  
Despite a dozen years   
of struggle and neglect  
this still tiny azalea  
has created and nurtured  
one present bud, now flowering.  
  
As my favorite   
chaos theory expert  
(and faux doctorate)  
Ian Malcolm once said:  
"Life finds a way."