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Poetry by Rowan Evans

Tag: Nonconformity

  • Refusing the Script: A Poem About Rejecting Expectations and Conformity

    Rowan Evans

    Author’s Note

    Sometimes people expect you to play a role they’ve already written for you. A role shaped by their fears, their politics, or their idea of what loyalty should look like.

    This poem is about refusing that script.

    — Rowan Evans

    A spotlight illuminating a torn script on an empty stage symbolizing refusing expectations and imposed roles.
    Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is refuse the role others expect you to play.

    Refusing the Script
    Poetry by Rowan Evans

    I feel I lost my voice
    in a way,
    put pen to page,
    learned the cost to say—
    translating rage,
    when writing
    came to stay.

    Breaking bars
    on the mental cage,
    so I could escape.
    I’m no actor—
    I don’t perform,
    but life’s a stage.

    I can hear
    your expectations,
    the way you
    judge from fear—
    and manipulation.
    You see,
    I’ve dwelled within
    emotion.

    You can’t twist my thoughts,
    to change my view,
    set in stone, not glass—
    solid, not see-through.

    I’m no actor—
    I won’t perform
    for your applause.
    I won’t play my part,
    won’t fall in line.
    Won’t pledge allegiance,
    show no hollow pride.
    And you simply
    cannot convince me,
    to see no value
    in a human life.

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

  • I Just Want to Leave – Neo-Gothic Confessional Poetry by Rowan Evans

    Rowan Evans

    Author’s Note

    I Just Want to Leave captures the restless, exilic energy that often pulses beneath my poetry. It is a declaration of detachment from a place that feels stifling, a yearning for freedom, and the fierce self-awareness that comes from knowing your worth and choosing to protect it. This piece resonates with anyone who has ever felt too much, too intense, or simply out of place—and serves as a reminder that leaving sometimes isn’t running away, it’s reclaiming yourself.

    A lone figure stands on a cliff at twilight, gazing toward an endless ocean with a ghostly American flag dissolving behind them, evoking defiance and longing.
    “I Just Want to Leave” – A neo-gothic confessional poem by Rowan Evans about yearning, exile, and reclaiming oneself.

    I Just Want to Leave
    Poetry by Rowan Evans

    They say—
    “You need to put yourself out there,”
    but I put myself out there,
    and nobody seems to connect with me.
    That’s fine—really though—
    ‘cause I don’t like Americans,
    I just want to leave.

    You’re proud
    to be an American?
    Well, not me.

    “If you don’t like it here, just leave.”

    Did you not hear
    what I just said?
    That’s exactly what I’m tryin’ to do.
    If I could,
    I’d be gone tomorrow, boo.
    Yeah, I’d pull a Danny Phantom—
    going ghost.

    I’d take a plane,
    or stowaway to escape.
    I’d cross oceans—
    hell, I’d swim if I had to.

    They say, “be proud,”
    but pride tastes like poison here.
    I’ve got no flag,
    pledge no allegiance.
    All I’ve got—
    is an open wound
    that wants to heal…
    somewhere else.

    It’d be—
    goodbye forever,
    and I’m never
    coming back.

    If you just want to read more of my work, you can find it all here: [The Library of Ashes]