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Poetry by Rowan Evans

Tag: American identity

  • Call of the Tide – A Poem About Identity, Belonging & Being Drawn Beyond Borders

    Rowan Evans

    Author’s Note

    This piece isn’t about hatred for where I’m from.
    It’s about honesty.

    For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt the pull of something beyond the shoreline I was born on. Not rebellion. Not fantasy. Just a quiet, persistent tide.

    “Drawn to Sea” is both wordplay and truth – a recognition that sometimes the call we feel isn’t about escape, but alignment. I don’t believe other people are wrong for loving where they are rooted. I simply know that my roots may be meant for different soil.

    Some of us don’t reject the shore.

    We just hear another one calling.

    — Rowan Evans

    A person standing alone at the edge of the ocean at sunset, looking toward the horizon in contemplation.
    Some shores are inherited.
    Others call you by name.

    Call of the Tide (Drawn to SEA)
    Poetry by Rowan Evans

    You can call me Moana
    the way I’m drawn to SEA,
    but there is no demi-god
    helping me.

    I must face the waves alone.

    The waves of hate
    from people in the place
    they say,
    I’m supposed to call home.

    But I’m American
    in label only.
    My mind frame
    does not align
    with the anthem
    in their sentiments.

    I’m not saying
    they’re wrong.
    I’m just saying
    I don’t belong.

    This place is not home.
    This shore was never my own.
    I’ve felt the pull of tides
    since my earliest days.
    So I stand at the edge—
    watching the horizon,
    waiting for the water
    to call my name.

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

  • Not the Default – A Poem About Perspective, Borders & Questioning Propaganda

    Rowan Evans

    Author’s Note

    This piece isn’t anti-anyone. It isn’t even anti-country.

    It’s about perspective.

    Growing up inside any system makes it easy to believe that your experience is the default setting for the world. But no nation is immune to propaganda, and no culture holds a monopoly on truth.

    Not the Default is a reminder — to myself as much as anyone else — to question comfortably inherited narratives, to look beyond borders, and to understand that expanding your worldview isn’t betrayal… it’s growth.

    — Rowan Evans

    A cracked globe in dark space with glowing artificial border lines across its surface.
    “The border isn’t the edge of the world — just the edge of your comfort.”

    Not the Default
    Poetry by Rowan Evans

    Oh, you sound
    so surprised—
    like you think
    our government
    never lies.

    Like propaganda
    is a foreign concept,
    something they do
    but never us.
    But what do you
    know of China, bruh?

    I’m not trying
    to shatter
    your mind.

    I’m just saying—
    expand
    your world view.
    Look beyond
    the borders.

    See that your life
    is not
    the default.
    Things are different
    all across
    the globe.

    But the sad truth is—
    some of us
    were taught
    to never question
    our own.

    The border isn’t the edge
    of the world—
    just the edge
    of your comfort.

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

  • Be Proud – A Poem About Identity, Disconnection, and Refusing Forced Patriotism

    Rowan Evans

    Author’s Note

    This piece isn’t about hating a place.
    It’s about refusing to perform pride I don’t feel.

    For most of my life, I’ve carried a quiet disconnect—and what’s always surprised me isn’t the feeling itself, but how personal other people take it. As if my lack of attachment is an accusation.

    It isn’t.

    It’s just honesty.

    Be Proud is about boundaries. About recognizing that someone else’s love for something doesn’t require my imitation. And that some feelings run too deep to be argued out of existence.

    — Rowan Evans

    A solitary person standing apart from a distant city skyline under a dramatic evening sky.
    You can love it.
    I just don’t.

    Be Proud
    Poetry by Rowan Evans

    It’s always been funny to me,
    the way people argue with me.
    Why does my disconnect
    affect you so badly?
    Why do you take
    my wanting to leave,
    so personal?

    If you’re proud,
    be proud—
    I don’t care,
    honestly.

    You’re wasting your breath,
    you’re wasting your time—
    because, you’re never going to
    change my mind.
    I’ve been like this
    for most of my life,
    so tell me—
    do you really think
    your opinion will
    change something
    so marrow deep?

    Look, you love America—
    I get it, I really do,
    and I wish
    I was a little more
    like you.

    But I’m not.

    And I can’t fake it,
    you can’t make me.

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