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Poetry by Rowan Evans

Tag: not belonging

  • Two Americans – A Poem About Identity, Culture, and Not Belonging

    Rowan Evans

    Author’s Note

    This piece wasn’t planned.

    It started as a stream of thought—just letting whatever was there come out without trying to shape it into something clean or intentional.

    Somewhere in that flow, a pattern surfaced.

    The realization that you can share a label with someone—same country, same language—and still feel like you’re speaking from completely different worlds.

    This isn’t about rejecting where I’m from.

    It’s about acknowledging that belonging isn’t always defined by it.

    — Rowan Evans

    Two people standing apart representing cultural and emotional disconnect despite shared identity.
    Same label. Same place. Different worlds.

    Two Americans
    Poetry by Rowan Evans

    Time flies
    when you’re lost inside
    a wandering mind
    as days turn to nights.

    It’s a cycle—
    thoughts repeat,
    recycled.

    Up before the sun,
    still up
    when the day is done.

    I smile
    when the moon
    greets me.

    Waves crash down
    as thoughts echo out—
    it’s the tide
    that leads me.

    Drifting at sea,
    looking for a place
    that’ll hold me.

    It’s not here.

    I’m not a
    star-spangled,
    salute-the-flag
    patriot.

    I don’t understand
    nationalistic
    points of view.

    That’s why I drift a lot—
    lost in thought
    like I forgot
    how to talk.

    “You’re an American?”
    “Me too.”

    “You speak English?”
    “Me too.”

    Then why
    does it feel like
    two different languages
    when I speak
    with you?

    Two Americans.

    Two different
    cultural views.

    Same place—
    but never
    felt the same.

    Journey into the Hexverse!

    [None of It Means a Thing]
    Success, fame, and money don’t mean much without someone to share them with. None of It Means a Thing explores love, purpose, and what truly makes life feel complete.

    [Of No Single Nation]
    What if belonging isn’t tied to where you’re from? Of No Single Nation explores identity beyond borders, reframing home as something found in connection rather than geography.

    [Coordinates of Escape]
    A deeply introspective poem about overthinking, emotional loops, and the desire to start over. Coordinates of Escape traces the journey from internal chaos to a deliberate destination—both physical and personal.

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

  • I Don’t Mean Life – A Poem About Misunderstood Words, Identity, and Not Belonging

    Rowan Evans

    Author’s Note

    There are phrases people hear… but don’t always understand.

    “I don’t want to be here” is one of them.

    It can sound final, heavy, even alarming—but sometimes it isn’t about wanting to disappear.

    Sometimes it’s about wanting relief.

    From pressure. From identity that doesn’t feel like your own. From a place that feels more like confinement than belonging.

    This piece is about that distinction.

    About being misunderstood—not because you’re unclear, but because people hear fear before they hear meaning.

    — Rowan Evans

    Person standing behind a map-shaped barrier, symbolizing feeling trapped by identity and place
    Sometimes “I don’t want to be here” means I don’t belong—not that I want to disappear.

    I Don’t Mean Life
    Poetry by Rowan Evans

    I say, “I don’t want to be here,”
    and people panic—
    “Don’t say that,” they shout
    as I struggle to find a way out.

    They worry—
    thinking the words
    mean death.

    But really—
    I just want to lift
    the weight
    from my chest.

    When I say
    I don’t want to be here—
    I don’t mean life.
    I mean this place.

    These borders
    that have become
    a cage.

    Do you know
    what it’s like—

    to carry this weight?

    To feel fake,
    filled with self-hate,
    all because of
    where you’re from?

    They say
    I should be
    more like them.

    Handed labels,
    identity described—
    just an American
    in their eyes.

    But I’ve never
    felt like that
    in my life.

    Journey into the Hexverse!

    [Of No Single Nation]
    What if belonging isn’t tied to where you’re from? Of No Single Nation explores identity beyond borders, reframing home as something found in connection rather than geography.

    [Where the Tide Calls Me]
    What if feeling stuck isn’t about being lost—but about resisting where you’re meant to go? Where the Tide Calls Me explores belonging, movement, and the courage to follow an unseen pull.

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

  • The Wrong Side of the Globe – A Poem About Feeling Out of Place and Not Belonging

    Rowan Evans

    Author’s Note

    There’s a kind of disconnection that goes beyond mood or circumstance.

    It’s not just about having a bad day, or feeling out of place for a moment. It’s deeper than that—like something fundamental doesn’t line up. Like the life you’re living doesn’t match the shape of who you are.

    For a long time, I tried to understand that feeling as something internal. Something to fix, adjust, or push through.

    But this piece comes from questioning that.

    From considering that maybe the discomfort isn’t a flaw—
    maybe it’s misalignment.

    Maybe it’s the result of existing in a space that doesn’t reflect you, doesn’t hear you, doesn’t hold the parts of you that matter.

    And maybe the answer isn’t to force yourself to fit—
    but to find where you already do.

    — Rowan Evans

    Person sitting alone at the edge of a bed at dawn symbolizing feeling out of place and disconnected.
    Sometimes it’s not that you’re lost—it’s that you woke up in a life that was never meant for you.

    The Wrong Side of the Globe
    Poetry by Rowan Evans

    I wake up—
    not just on
    the wrong side
    of the bed.

    I wake up
    on the wrong
    side of the globe—

    in a life
    that doesn’t fit
    the shape of me

    I wake up
    in a timezone
    my body refuses,
    in a climate
    my skin protests,
    in a country
    my soul didn’t choose.

    I wake up
    as the wrong version
    of myself,
    a silhouette
    in someone else’s dawn,
    a life misaligned
    with its own pulse—

    speaking a language
    this place won’t hear,
    carrying histories
    this soil won’t hold,
    belonging to a map
    not on the wall.

    I wake up…

    in a morning
    meant for someone else.

    In a season
    I wasn’t built for.

    In a story
    I don’t remember choosing.

    I wake up
    already tired
    from carrying a life
    that was never mine…

    I wake up
    wanting a world
    that fits my outline—

    a morning
    that knows my name.

    So I drift off—
    falling into sleep,
    praying that I…

    wake up
    to a place
    that feels like mine,

    a life
    that finally fits—

    the shape of me.

    Journey into the Hexverse!

    [Where the Tide Calls Me]
    What if feeling stuck isn’t about being lost—but about resisting where you’re meant to go? Where the Tide Calls Me explores belonging, movement, and the courage to follow an unseen pull.

    [I Was Already On My Way]
    What if the places that call to you aren’t random? I Was Already On My Way explores identity, travel, and the realization that some paths have been forming long before we recognize them.

    [Of No Single Nation]
    What if belonging isn’t tied to where you’re from? Of No Single Nation explores identity beyond borders, reframing home as something found in connection rather than geography.

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