Poetry by Rowan Evans

Author’s Note

Some people use shuffle as background noise.

I use it as a compass.

I’ve noticed over the years that when I stop trying to control what song comes next and simply let the algorithm decide, the music often mirrors something I was already feeling—or something I hadn’t admitted I was feeling yet.

One song can pull me inward. Another can make me laugh. Another can unlock a memory I hadn’t thought about in years. It’s less about the songs themselves and more about how music has always been one of the languages my mind speaks most fluently.

This poem isn’t really about playlists.

It’s about trust.

Trusting art to take me somewhere I didn’t expect to go, and accepting that sometimes the best way to understand myself is to stop choosing the destination and simply listen.

— Rowan Evans

Let Shuffle Steer
Poetry by Rowan Evans

I sit—
lost in my head again,
letting the music hit.
It carries me
from one emotion
to the next.
Sometimes—
I don’t know
where it’ll take me.

Shuffle’s got a mind of its own—

and it’s like it knows
what I need to hear,
right when I need
to hear it.

It’s like—
shuffle sees me,
then shuffle reads me—

oh, you want to get introspective?
Here is a song—
that’ll make you want to look inside.

Oh, you need to get aggressive?
Here is a song—
that’ll make you want to go riot,
take the pen and get violent.

It’s like you need to cry,
and take a walk down memory lane?
Here is a song,
and it’s fuel for that pain.

I like to ride the soundwaves,
I don’t fight it, I let the music hit—
I can feel my whole persona shift
with a change in beat.
It’s like the music is
a fast acting chrysalis—
you see, the music wraps around me
and I begin to change.
It’s nothing strange—

it’s just the way music affects me.

It enters the bloodstream,
my DNA rearranges—
something fundamental changes.
Not just the surface,
but marrow deep.

So I let shuffle steer—
it knows the roads
I don’t admit to.
It makes me go
where I’m meant to,
even when I don’t see the map.

Journey into the Hexverse…

[A Heart That Echoes in Another Language]
A poetic journey through music across Japan, Korea, China, and the Philippines, exploring how sound becomes identity, memory, and emotional geography.

[Sound as a Vessel]
“Sound as a Vessel” is a free verse poem about music as emotional architecture, exploring how international artists and soundscapes shaped identity, creativity, memory, and poetic voice.

[The Music Holds Me Upright]
A reflective free verse poem about using music, writing, and rhythm to navigate anxiety, depression, and emotional overwhelm.

[Global Takeover]
What if home isn’t a place—but something you build from the music you love? Global Takeover blends sound, culture, and identity into one borderless space.

If you’re interested in more poetry, you can find it here → [The Library of Ashes]