new poem: The Housing Problem

I was asked to write a poem to perform during a memorial service for folks who died on the streets of Pinellas County without safe and proper housing in 2025. We shared their names, the names we knew, there are sadly humans who slipped through our shared memory bank. My first draft of this poem was centered on love. It held grief softly and tenderly, but I wanted to say more in this piece.

The lack of affordable housing in this country is a pattern of abuse by the powerful and the rich on everyday people. In this poem, I want to create space for the range of emotions that bubble up around this collective loss, but also start a dialogue around how we talk about this issue. When I write, I take time to reflect on the ecosystem an idea or person exists within. This human-made problem (houselessness) demands urgent change, care, and revolution.

I am deeply grateful to use my voice in unison with so many others committed to loving louder as a community. You can read the poem below.

The Housing Problem Here on Planet Earth by tabitha rose cervantes

I haven’t found peace on Earth since you left, not yet

I spot your love notes in sunny St. Pete sidewalk chalk

I trace our steps, looking for my lungs to lighten

I catch myself in prayer:

Humans are not homeless - they are without

Without the space to simply be. Without the space to sleep or dream

Banned from makeshift beds in public spaces

Stranger’s eyes hide from sanctuary seeking faces

Our siblings without care witness respect

Their flowerhood is mistaken for weeds that must be pulled

But friend, you are the wildflower growing on the curve

of I-275 on-ramps. Hugging humanity more than most

Eyes dart like minnows in Florida waterways

Your spirit swims like plankton, infinite, touching everything you see

Coldhearted articles turn humans into adjectives misplaced nouns

Dangerous, addict, mentally unstable

The housing problem is a word problem

Language shapeshifts our sight

so we stop seeing the seeds sprouting in each other

Stop hearing the heartbeat in us all

Stop feeling the delight of bougainvillea blowing in the breeze beckoning sunshine on the same planet Earth

To our dearly departed: a short list of long love

We feel you here. One foot in our hearts, one foot beyond

We are bound by the same stuff that keeps the forest alive

The ancient urge to send water through shared soil. Love.

The need to huddle together for warmth. Love.

The desire to see you eat well, drink well, rest well. Love.

May we live like roots, listening to every tree in the forest

Knowing your thirst is my lifeline

Keeping love alive on the planet we all call home

© 2025 by tabitha rose cervantes. All rights reserved.

No part of this poem can be reproduced or transmitted without written permission, with exceptions for brief excerpts used in reviews, interviews, or educational references with proper credit.