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Poetry by Rowan Evans

Tag: systemic injustice

  • WOKE Part 3 Finale: Carrying the Fire of Truth – Poetry by Rowan Evans

    Rowan Evans

    Author’s Note

    The concluding piece of the trilogy reflects on systemic betrayal, historical wounds, and the enduring fight for justice. It is both a lament and a call to awareness, urging readers to consider what it truly means to stay vigilant.

    “Protestor writing in glowing ink amidst phoenix-like flames, symbolizing courage, truth, and unyielding vigilance.”
    WOKE Part 3 concludes Rowan Evans’ trilogy with an unrelenting call to action, courage, and truth in a world asleep to injustice.

    WOKE (Part 3 – Finale)
    Poetry by Rowan Evans

    I scream in streets; they call it noise.
    I call it truth breaking through hollow poise.
    I stay WOKE, because walls are watching,
    And silence is crime when the world mocks.

    They say I’m dangerous, that I overreact.
    I see too clearly to step back.
    I call out power in polite suits,
    Exposing lies in the language of roots.

    If they dare call me terrorist for speaking,
    Let my words explode—unrelenting, unceasing.
    I sip my warm drink: fuck ICE, fuck apathy,
    Watch the world choke on its own hypocrisy.

    I stay WOKE, every headline bleeds,
    Every statistic screams, every shadow feeds
    On the forgotten, the hunted, the unseen.
    I write for ghosts, for spaces in between.

    They wanted compliance, nods, polite smiles.
    I give them fire, I give them exile.
    I dance in chaos, spit on lies,
    Wear my fury like ink, tattooed across the skies.

    Call me radical, menace, foe—
    Let them feel the truths I throw.
    I will not sleep, will not yield;
    I am awake, armed, heart the shield.

    History may remember, or not,
    But I will not forget, will not affront
    The ones who fell while the world turned its face.
    I stay WOKE, carry the fire, keep the pace.

    And when night comes, heavy and still,
    I write louder, sharper, bending their will.
    For the oppressed, ignored, silenced, broken:
    I am WOKE, unbound, my words the token.

    The trilogy’s blaze has reached its peak. Revisit the awakening in WOKE Part 1: Staying Awake in a World of Injustice ← or witness the reckoning in WOKE Part 2: Bearing Witness to Injustice ←. Keep the fire alive.

  • WOKE Part 1: Staying Awake in a World of Injustice – Poetry by Rowan Evans

    Rowan Evans

    Author’s Note

    This piece explores the tension between awareness and exhaustion in a world of systemic injustice. It confronts the pressure to “stay woke,” highlighting both the courage and the emotional toll of resisting oppression.

    Figure standing in neon-lit streets at night, holding glowing red pen, symbolizing vigilance and protest.
    “I stay WOKE, that’s why I never sleep” – Rowan Evans begins a trilogy on awareness, anger, and courage in the face of systemic injustice.

    WOKE (Part 1)
    Poetry by Rowan Evans

    I stay WOKE, that’s why I never sleep—
    I’m anti-fascist, now labeled a terrorist.
    I say fuck ICE; my drinks turn warm,
    Bitter, sharp, like the words I spit loud.

    Aren’t we the nation that fought Nazis?
    Now we put them in power, watch them grin.
    I march, I scream, I tweet, I bleed—
    Speaking truth, they brand me a disease.

    They call me criminal for thought, for breath,
    For existing outside their “acceptable” cage.
    My rage is wildfire, my words a sword,
    A hymn for the silenced, hunted, ignored.

    I see them smile on screens,
    Policies choking hope, their hands clean.
    Streets flood with fear; they whisper, “It’s nothing.”
    Disappear quietly, they urge.

    But I will not. I cannot.
    I write in neon ink, in scarlet screams,
    I am the echo of every voiceless soul,
    The pulse of a conscience refusing to fold.

    WOKE isn’t trendy—it’s a wound,
    A heartbeat racing in a country turned cold.
    I stay awake in hollowed halls,
    Because truth shouts, and lies always fall.

    You’ve felt the burn of vigilance—now step deeper into the fight. WOKE Part 2: Bearing Witness to Injustice → challenges you to face the weight of history and the echoes of oppression.