Author’s Note

This piece began as a joke.

Or at least, I thought it did.

The opening voice is intentionally playful—awkward, self‑deprecating, a little chaotic, prone to wandering off into side comments before finding its way back again. In many ways, it feels closer to how I actually think than some of my more polished or serious pieces.

But underneath the humor is something sincere.

I’ve never been particularly good at saying important things directly. Sometimes vulnerability arrives disguised as a joke. Sometimes affection hides behind wordplay. Sometimes the safest way to admit what you’re feeling is to make someone laugh first.

The title comes from a simple realization: when I think about certain people, my thoughts tend to orbit the same things.

Love. Longing. Loyalty.

The L words.

And heart.

The final section is intentionally quieter than everything that comes before it. The jokes fall away, the distractions disappear, and what remains is the truth the speaker was circling the entire time: the way another person can take up space in your imagination, your creativity, and your inner world long before they ever occupy the same physical space.

Sometimes affection doesn’t arrive as grand declarations.

Sometimes it arrives as a face that appears when you close your eyes.
A voice you hear in silence.
A shoreline you keep finding in your dreams.

— Rowan Evans

L Words & Heart
Poetry by Rowan Evan

I’m just a quirky, mother—
not a fighter, but a lover.
I’m not brave or whatever,
I bite tongues,
holding words like lips
with padlocks.

I’ve never been a fan of change,
but I want things to change—
I want my life rearranged,
I want to be seen as normal
not strange—
I want to be me
and accepted,
because I’m not as strange
as you think—
I’ve seen Stranger Things.

(Actually, no I haven’t.
I never got into the show.
But I digress…)

I’ve got things I want to say,
got things I want you to know.

When I think about you
it’s all L words and heart,
you reshaped my art.
So I close my eyes
and I see your face.
In silence, I hear your voice—
and in dreams I walk your shores.

Journey into the Hexverse…

[Just Beyond Waking]
A street that feels familiar. A life that hasn’t happened yet. Just Beyond Waking explores the fragile space between dreams, memory, longing, and the quiet feeling that some futures are already waiting for us.

[Twin Suns, Sister Moons]
A poem about distance, longing, and the quiet pull of someone who lives beneath a different sky. Between twin suns and sister moons, the heart keeps reaching for home.

[It’s You I Choose]
A poem about devotion, vulnerability, and the quiet decision to stay. Sometimes love isn’t certainty—it is choosing someone anyway.

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