Short Scraggly Poems

The old gray cat sleeps
Through most of the day
He came to my door
As a scraggly stray...

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Coyotes are scraggly, ugly too
Eating carrion and roadkill overdue
She is a scavenger and a prey thief
Jackals enjoy kill until she makes it brief...

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Beginning to doubt
This guy with the funny snout
Is he waiting for a lick
before he throws that scraggly stick
been here all day
Don't this guy know how to play
OY VEY, HaPpY HoLiDaYS, Anyway !...

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SANTA

Santa Claus
Only one
Scraggly jaws

Sack on back
Wanting snack
Lumps of coal

Reindeer, sleigh
On his way
Can't delay

13 December 2018
For the contest sponsored by Charlie Messina...

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there once was a flying monkey who didn't know what to eat.  so he ate the old scraggly poop hanging from his butthole.  His friends thought he was weird but i didnt. i do that all the time.  it tastes good....

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At the tight end of a rope,
tied on a scraggly oak.
Rode Broken Nose Mc Ghee,
a known cattle thief.

With a crack of a whip,
The hangman's knot gripped.
Swinging buzzard feed,
Was Broken Nose Mc Ghee....

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Strange sardonic shadow stands and stares, 
                       but  when I turn and look their spent force

Spirited less and scraggly   I have become set.  Hallucinations or are they real? 


12/4/2016...

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Your shadow is limp and scraggly. 

When you try to stand from your bed- 

You almost topple.

As if you’ve been uprooted. 

Princess…

Let us bring you your food. 

So you do not have to wander like an alley cat....

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Z Z Top and Cousin It took the right approach
     Dark sun glasses and beards detract from scraggly hair
Next time my motley hairdo meets with reproach
     Combing forward I’ll consider, sparing the Nair



*For Rick's "Bad Hair Day" contest...

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The fingered clouds beckoned forth,
And remnant regents came,
I being under scraggly force
Said " Let us begin the game."

Then lined them up and tally hoed,
(With garden on the side,)
"You call that what we are to foed?"
"I am only for the ride."...

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Candied apples are too sweet for that scraggly wayward horse
What would this old dude know? His name is crow jimmy morse
myrtle ignored what he had to say, giving the horse a sweet that day.
She was glad she did later, for that night, the joyful horse passed away....

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Three funny-looking scraggly emu birds were pecking at my window
I thought it was the rain or maybe hail until I looked out
They were hilarious-looking; what did they want? I wanted to know.
I did not understand their bird speak, they finally huffed off in a pout....

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Our pets got old.
We all acted surprised.
When we had puppies and kittens…
They were playful and unstoppable.
So were we.
As they settled down-
We graduated high school.
As they got weak and scraggly-
We graduated collage.
Now we take turns sending our condolences.
Our friendships changed.
Our pets loved us all the way home....

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Her hair was long a scraggly mess
Maggie O’Shea flaunting a flimsy dress
Of shiny silky satin sheen
In bright vivid emerald green
Flashing her smile ever so sincere
Asked for a big green stein of beer
After all it was St. Paddy’s Day
She wouldn’t have it any other way



AP: Honorable Mention 2020

Posted on December 1, 2019...

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In an hour a thousand pass
Doctors, lawyers, truck drivers
Small and fat,
A straggly cat.
Six ladies in elegant furs
Two little boys chasing curs
A tottery, old man with a cane
The same scraggly cat again.
The local newsboy laden down
Big and small,
A runaway ball,
The corner cop awaiting the strike
Five o'clock, the rush hour jam
Wondering who I am
What I'm doing--...

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In the shade, I shrivel
in flowering cactus
crafting sloppy verse

below the scraggly
exhausted moon

warm reverberations of love
originating in the Jade Garden
nerves jangling in my true being

the magnificent encounter 
of how to melt 
this iron reluctance

dreams can feel 
most real than actual life
every day as I unseal my eyes.

Written: May 12, 2023...

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I feel myself becoming scraggly in this place.

As if I’m old, but I don’t remember being old.

I feel my face and it’s smooth this time.

They lead me to bed.

They give me bland soup that I dribble everywhere.

I take my bites and they don’t care.

They want to take my organs.

They want my kidneys, and brain, and skin because I’m special.

I fall asleep anyway.

Then it’s breakfast.

And my heart is gone....

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I remember the days when I'd fall
asleep before hitting the pillow.
Ah, the joy of a sound sleep.

I might not have been at my best
in the morning all things considered.
Day-old makeup very much past its prime.

My eyelashes were caked and looking scraggly,
my lipstick smeared across my cheek and pillow,
eyeshadow streaked clear across my forehead.

Thankfully one good shower made me whole again!


posted on April 10, 2025...

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magestic ebony lion
all powerful and masterful
intimidating without trying
fearless and terrifyingly powerful

ebony beauty with scraggly teeth
massive mane and giant claws
striking amber eyes, 
and nose built for hunting

dangerous and stealthy
strikingly handsome
takes no prisoners, makes no apologies

magestic ebony lion,
devours prey beautifully, in big gulps
wise amber eyes, waiting, intimidating me in all ways possible....

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What is in that mouse hole snoring away?
The cat sneaked a peek and tiptoed that day
Grabbed his owner’s phone and took a photo too.
Of a snoring elf sleeping in a matchbook box of red and blue.

The elderly elf had a scraggly beard, he was not fresh at all.
He’s a teensy thing, the cat said “less than three inches tall.”
The mouse family had invited their guest, who had promised them the moon.
They shooed the cat and the other gawkers away using a sixties tune....

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Gravel road winds up to the gate
    logs from a bygone era, sturdy
      electrified now, to keep out ~
        or perhaps to keep in ~

  The cowshed, chicken coop
    scraggly gardens and grapevines
  all still there, the ground still bare
    desert sand, flies around
      but no one dies of thirst... 

  Paint's peeling, metal's rusting
    fragrance carried on the air
  Paradise once for this sixty-year-old-lad
    walking the fields, remembering dad...

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Mamie has a rather shabby coat, it is a mainstay
We all know it; green with tassels, a bit scraggly
It was her mother’s coat, she will never get rid of it
It still smells like her, she tells us.

Is she creepy? A newcomer asks me.
She has not met Mamie yet.
You need to meet her and make up your own mind.
She does, and she falls in love with her.

Like the rest of us have.
She might be wrinkly and old,
She might not have the best clothes
But she has the best heart....

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Abraham Lincoln, the president, 
Awe-inspiring American gent. 
Lead the American Civil war 
Abolishing slavery no more. 

Abraham Lincoln, the president, 
Scraggly and tall, cheeks each flaccid dent. 
Laughing, jokes were told of people’s flaws.  
Jokester, mocked how ugly he was. 

Abraham Lincoln, the president 
Shared his humorous stories frequent.  
History's great leaders, once long ago;
Helped shape the America we know.

12/29/2020


Lincoln was 6’ 4” tall...

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