Author’s Note

This piece started with a number.

Something simple. Something I never thought twice about.

But the more I sat with it, the more it started to feel like more than just geography.

Longitude isn’t just distance–it’s alignment. Points that exist separately, but mirror each other across the curve of the world.

This poem explores that idea.

Not just of going somewhere…
but of becoming someone.

Because sometimes the hardest distance to cross
isn’t measured in miles or degrees–

it’s the space between who you are
and who you’re ready to be.

And maybe that moment–
that decision to move, to follow the bull instead of resisting it–

that’s the real crossing.

Not the ocean.

Not the world.

But the line you’ve been standing on for longer than you realized.

— Rowan Evans

121° East
Poetry by Rowan Evans

Who knew 121°
from West to East
would hold so much
meaning for me?

It’s the trajectory
of a moth in flight—
crossing ocean waves
in search of flames.

Two points on a spinning globe
reflecting each other—
like halves of a compass
waiting to align.

But first,
I’ve got to cross
that line—

the Prime Meridian.

Maybe crossing that line
isn’t about travel—
maybe it’s the moment
I stop standing still,
and let myself become
the person I’ve been orbiting.

A moth doesn’t question
why the flame feels familiar—
it just flies,
trusting the pull
more than the dark behind it.

And maybe the flame
was never a place at all—
just a warmth I recognized
from a distance,
calling me home
in a language not my own.

That’s the hardest part—
not the distance,
not the oceans,
but stepping past the version of myself
that never thought I’d move.

The world curves gently
between here and there—
a quiet arc of possibility
I trace with my thumb
every time I look at a map.

Every longitude has a twin—
a shadow line
humming on the far side of the world,
waiting for the moment
I decide to follow it.

Funny how a number
I never cared about
suddenly feels like prophecy—
like the universe slipped me
a cosmic inside joke…

and I’m only now getting it.

Journey into the Hexverse!

And maybe direction is only the beginning… [Low Hum] (04/12)

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