Author’s Note

There are certain aesthetics that feel less like something we choose and more like something we recognize.

For me, Gothic imagery has always been one of those things.

Homecoming came from the realization that something in my writing had started to feel slightly unfamiliar. I was still writing about the moon, the ocean, the tides, ravens, horror, darkness, and the strange spaces where beauty and pain overlap—but somehow, I had drifted away from the particular Gothic atmosphere that has always felt like home to me.

So this poem became a return.

Poe is here because his shadow has been part of my literary DNA for years. Nyx and Hades are here because mythology gives me another language for darkness. The ravens are here because, in my own symbolic architecture, they have become witnesses, messengers, and companions. And the horror references—Jason, Ghostface, Pennywise, Michael Myers—are there because horror has never been merely about monsters to me.

It is about what the monsters represent.

Grief. Fear. Obsession. Rage. The parts of ourselves that refuse to stay buried.

There is also something deliberately self-aware about this poem. I am not simply listing Gothic references because they sound dark. I am talking about my relationship with the imagery itself—the way the moon has accumulated meaning across my work, the way the tides connect to emotion, and the way ravens have gradually become part of my mythology.

The darkness isn’t an aesthetic costume.

It’s architecture.

And after spending some time writing away from it, I realized that I wasn’t trying to become something new.

I was finding my way back to something that had been mine all along.

That’s why this poem is called Homecoming.

Sometimes you don’t discover where you belong.

Sometimes you remember.

— Rowan Evans

Homecoming
Poetry by Rowan Evans

I’ve been writing like
I forgot which domain is mine,
I’m of the darkness—
just borrowed the light,
and made Poe’s throne my birthright.

I’m a gothic romantic,
I bleed for the art—
I’ve kissed the lips of Nyx
and wandered through
the realm of Hades.

I’m a poltergeist in life,
but at night I come alive—
witching hour is when I thrive.

I pray to the moon
and curse the sun—
I ascend to the throne
that Poe had spun.

I watch the ravens—
carrying messages where they fly,
eyes locked, tracking the treachery across the sky.
They are always watching—
silent witnesses to the rot inside.

It started to feel like something
in my pieces was missing—
like where was the gothic lace,
silk and satin sin, velvet and venom.

There was too much light—
even when ninety percent
of my imagery is night adjacent,
weaving in horror rhymes—
Friday the 13th, Night of Jason.

The moon in my rhymes has meaning,
when I write lines like the tides—I mean it,
even in my Ghostface cadence—
what’s your favorite scary movie?
Pennywise of the mind, sewer of thought—
I’m a monster like Michael,
when I chase—I don’t run, I walk.

Journey into the Hexverse…

[The Monster in the Margins]
Drawing inspiration from horror icons like Michael Myers, Ghostface, Freddy Krueger, and Pennywise, this poem explores the darker side of creativity—where inspiration becomes an unstoppable force lurking just beyond the edge of the page.

[The Monster in the Margins II]
The Monster in the Margins II transforms Rowan Evans’s Seven Deadly Sins mythology into a horror story written between the lines, where Lust, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Pride, Envy, and Gluttony become monsters growing from pain, grudges, and scars.

[The Unkindness Descends]
“The Unkindness Descends” is a Gothic symbolic poem exploring collapse, transformation, and the unsettling experience of being witnessed during moments of unraveling. Through raven imagery, ambiguity, and ritualistic atmosphere, the poem invites multiple interpretations—spiritual, psychological, ominous, or transformative.

[Gospel in Crimson]
When writing becomes ritual and love becomes devotion, the line between creation and worship begins to blur. Gospel in Crimson explores obsession, artistry, and the sacred act of expression.

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