The Search

On the hunt for land
For our tiny house on wheels
A place to call home

Craigslist is barren
Land listings only for sale
Leads have come and gone

We need internet
The sun to power our home
Privacy a plus

A source of water
Gray liquid back to the earth
Alchemy of waste

On Google Street View
We trace a map to our dreams
Along country roads

Glimpse at what could be
A plot of land close to town
A farm, view, river

The great escape from
The monotonous cycle
A new path to pave

Gigantic journey
In such a little abode
Just one step of life

Published by Cheri Lucas Rowlands

I am an editor at Longreads. For over a decade, I've worked on curation, editing, and storytelling projects across Automattic, including WordPress.com.

20 thoughts on “The Search

  1. Very much like this poem ~ the hunt for the perfect piece of land to make a home. I’ve like the concept of living in a tiny house for some time, so it is inspirational to see you move forward with this rather cool dream… 🙂

  2. May you find your “home, sweet home” soon, a perfect little space for your tiny house on wheels. Happy hunting! Remember, “happiness is not the destination, it’s the journey.”

  3. “A source of water
    Gray liquid back to the earth
    Alchemy of waste”

    Like other readers I like the sentiment of your poem. But the lines above strike me as the most representative of your quest toward a more simple and more meaningful life, also more respectful toward nature.

    I also like that you’ve skipped all forms of punctuation. Each line flows after another, accentuating the modernity of the form and content.

    Happy land hunting to you and your husband!

    1. Thanks! I know little to nothing about poetry, but wanted to play around with the haiku, which seems somewhat accessible to me. I’d like to spend more time smoothing out the clunkiness in the phrases I create!

  4. Love the subject in the photo: is it a squirrel, some humanoid, or tiny life form? Pricks the imagination, as does the poem.

    1. I’ve always looked at this image and thought that was me. So, it’s me.

      (But really, it’s an ocean squirrel along the rocks in Pacific Grove in Monterey Bay, CA.)

      It’s a really old photo, but still manages to represent me and this blog 🙂

  5. My favorite stanza/haiku is:
    On Google Street View
    We trace a map to our dreams
    Along country roads

    (I tried singing it in the voice of John Denver!)

    And, I agree with Ewan about the ocean . . .

  6. Oh, you’re killing me with the last line. It’s so true. All of the pain and struggle we go through just to take that one step. But to truly take a step in a different direction than the natural flow of our life, takes a lot of courage, and a lot of hard work to back up that courage.

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