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Poetry by Rowan Evans

Tag: American identity

  • 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]