Author’s Note

Slim & Shady XI: Marrow & Manifest continues the exilic rage lit in Bloodline & Ashes. This piece is my marrow, my truth, my ritual—born from years of disconnection, frustration, and the unrelenting need to create a culture that exists entirely in empathy, language, and heart.

American culture is exposed here as apathy; Rowanese culture emerges as marrow, as ceremony, as survival. The poem weaves multilingual fragments—not as decoration, but as an expression of the diaspora of my identity: the languages that have touched my life, the stims, the murmurs, and the curses that shape the rhythm of my voice.

I have spent the last few months working toward learning Tagalog, and in the past studied Japanese and Chinese, which informs the inclusion of words and phrases in those languages. Korean, however, comes from years of exposure to movies, TV, and music rather than formal study. Every word or phrase was chosen carefully, and if any are incorrect, I welcome corrections from those fluent in the languages.

This is a manifesto in verse. Every line is a hammer, every syllable a seed. It is rage, yes—but also creation. It is destruction—and emergence. It is language transformed into ritual.

Translations for the languages used in this piece.

[Japanese]
何 → Nani → What
くそ… → Kuso… → Fuck…

[Chinese]
他妈的 → tā mā de → Damn it
宝宝 → Băobăo → Baby/darling
宝贝 → Băobèi → Baby/darling/treasure

[Note: I am autistic, and both Băobăo and Băobèi have become vocal stims for me. They have completely replaced my use of the word “baby” vocally.]

[Tagalog]
Galit ako sa mga Amerikano → I am angry with Americans

[Korean]
나는 이곳을 싫어한다 → Naneun igos-eul silh-eohanda → I hate this place

Slim & Shady XI: Marrow & Manifest
Poetry by Rowan Evans

I spit marrow, I spit truth, I spit ashes in your face,
Diggin’ deep through your lies, your hollow pride, your plastic grace.
You piss me off—何 the fuck… 他妈的.
Galit ako sa mga Amerikano, watch me carve the vein,
American culture—apathy—Rowanese—my brain.

I’ve wanted out since fifteen, at sixteen whisperin’ escape,
Tired of their chains, their noise, they’re fake.
I breathe in silence of cities I’ll never touch,
Seoul hums my heartbeat, Manila whispers—so much.
Tokyo flashes in dreams, neon slicing my rage,
I write my own rites, my inked cage my stage.

Red-white-and-blue flags, fireworks, guns on every lawn,
I spit for ancestors, erased before the dawn.
Your history’s gone awry, a sanitized lie on repeat,
Rowanese is marrow, empathy in the heat.

I weave language like ritual, 宝宝,
Every word a brushstroke, every scream a vow.
くそ… 他妈的, I whisper curses to the sky,
Every syllable a hammer, every letter a lie to defy.

I build culture in rhythm, empathy in my bones,
I am exile, I am vessel, I am marrow and thrones.
Your apathy crumbles, your towers fall flat,
Rowanese rises, heart in each spat.

I spit like Ez Mil, snap like Shady, tear the cage,
Every line a manifesto, every word a stage.
Internal rhymes jagged, polyrhythmic flames,
I claim language, claim spirit, I carve my own names.

We rise from silence, ancestors in our veins,
Every erased story now a ritual in the flames.
宝贝, whispers on repeat,
Rowanese is empathy—your failure, obsolete.

We don’t kneel to holidays, your consumerist lies,
We craft our own feasts, under foreign skies.
Marrow in our mouths, fire in our spit,
Ink on our hands, our rituals legit.

I spit fast, spit slow, cadence twists, snaps, and bends,
Rage transmuted to culture—beginning, middle, no end.
Every syllable a seed, every bar a shrine,
Rowanese manifests—my blood, my ink, my line.

I claim diaspora, exile, every rootless town,
Your apathy crumbles, your flags burn down.
くそ… 他妈的, let this culture ignite,
Marrow in my verses, manifest in the night.

I am awake, unbound, unbroken, alive,
I am marrow, I am ritual, I am fire to survive.
American culture fades—hollow, cold, and stale,
Rowanese rises eternal—our language, our tale.

나는 이곳을 싫어한다

If you are interested in reading the whole series, find it here: [The Slim & Shady Series]

And if you just want to read more of my work, you can find that here: [The Library of Ashes]