Author’s Note

This poem moves in two parts.

The first explores connection as transaction—
contact that is measured, conditional, and finite.

The second turns toward intimacy that is not negotiated,
but inhabited—
the kind that alters internal architecture rather than
leaving marks on the skin.

What follows is not about harm versus healing,
but about impact.

— Rowan Evans

Body/Mind
Poetry by Rowan Evans

Part I: Body

They can
break you in body—
measure desire
in effort and result,
hands fluent
in cause and effect.

Touch that asks,
what do I get?

Pressure applied,
response expected.
A transaction of skin,
signed in sweat.

When it’s done,
nothing follows.

No echo,
no after.

Just the body—
learning how to rest.

Part II: Mind

But there are those
who break you in mind—
without ever touching you.

They listen
past your sentences,
hear what you edit out,
notice the way your breath
changes mid-thought.

They don’t demand.
They remain.

They sit
until your defenses
get tired of standing.

And suddenly
you’re telling the truth
by accident.

This isn’t force.
It’s gravity.

By the time you notice,
your inner furniture
has been rearranged,
and the door you locked
years ago…

is standing open.

Closing Note

Let the body
heal quickly.

It always does.

It’s the mind—
once altered—
that never returns
to its original shape.

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