20151219 (simplification)

The “Tiny House Movement” 

Is getting a fair share of attention

On cable TV I gather. Since I don’t

Get TV on my cable (only internet)

I’ll have to trust the shows are very

Like what I see on YouTube,

Typically someone builds a shack

Atop a small trailer either parked 

On a friend’s or relative’s property

With the usual hookups—electricity,

Water, maybe gas, as at a trailer

Camp. Or they’re completely off 

Grid in the wilderness homesteading,

Dependent on propane for heat, 

Solar for electric, woodland zephyrs 

For cooling. None are hitched 

To a vehicle— that’s good since

I doubt they’ve been inspected 

For roadworthiness. Nothing much 

New here except for some meager 

Savings as easily achieved with 

Moderation in a small room.

What makes them clever is the 

Ingenuity for piling numerous 

Functions tidily—not unusual for

Someone in a Manhattan studio. 

What drives the current interest

Is exhaustion with our excess, 

The costs of acquisition and the 

Burden of maintaining them. The 

Punishment for materialism is 

Having to find some place to put

It all. Previous solutions failed 

When the quest for more outruns

Attic, basement, garage space

And the community forbids leaving

It all on the lawn. Hence the rise of

The otherwise inexplicable “self

Storage” plantations sprouting like

Property prisons behind barbed wire

Fences with concrete block cells in

Semi industrial zones. My work 

Had me walking through suburban

Developments where house after

House had two-car garages jammed

With, not packrat trash, just real

Good American still useable stuff:

Workout machines, freezers, boats, 

Storage boxes (presumably filled) 

With smaller stuff on row after row

Of shelving improvised, built in, or 

Purchased at the local Home Depot.

They’d have had more space dumping

The contents in a heap and shedding

The storage gear. Having discovered

 “Having” did not yield happiness, 

Now, like Thoreau, the culture tries 

“Halving,” cutting to the minimum 

Like a monk in his spare quarters: 

Window, kneeler, cot, desk, chair, 

Candle, book. But as any monk 

Will tell (when they’re allowed to

Speak) his simple life involves

Not just a poverty of things but

Obedience also, submission

To the supportive work for the

Spiritual community. Else he’s a 

Homeless beggar put up in a room

For the night. 

c. J.S.Manista, 2015