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Poetry by Rowan Evans

Tag: woke poetry

  • 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 2: Bearing Witness to Injustice – Poetry by Rowan Evans

    Rowan Evans

    Author’s Note

    This installment dives into systemic inequities, confronting racial and social injustice head-on. It examines the anger and frustration that fuel action, and the costs of speaking truth to power.

    “Silhouetted protestors in empty streets at dusk, with headlines floating symbolically above, representing systemic injustice.”
    Rowan Evans bears witness to history and systemic inequities in WOKE Part 2, channeling the fury and pain of the silenced.

    WOKE (Part 2)
    Poetry by Rowan Evans

    They say a lynching was a suicide,
    I guess being black took his life.
    The headline reads fiction,
    But history whispers cruelty in the wind.

    I stay WOKE, because sleep is luxury
    Reserved for those blind to rot.
    Hands build monuments to lies,
    While bodies disappear, uncounted, unnamed.

    “Calm down, it’s over,” they tell me,
    As if oppression is a bedtime story,
    As if my fury is a tantrum
    From someone who dares to notice.

    I rage for mothers, fathers, children
    Erased in official reports,
    For those who fell while the world looked away,
    And those trembling, forced to pray.

    I write in neon ink, in fiery scars,
    For the voiceless who scream in the dark,
    For every injustice whitewashed,
    Every truth buried beneath silence and sand.

    I stay WOKE, because breathing here
    Means noticing horrors, refusing witness,
    Carrying the weight loud, unbroken, alive.

    They may call me terrorist, troublemaker,
    But I call myself awake,
    And I will not blink while the world sleeps.
    Not while power smiles over the dead,
    Not while history repeats its cruel refrain.

    The fire grows hotter. WOKE Part 3 Finale: Carrying the Fire of Truth → confronts the unyielding struggle for justice and the voices the world tries to silence.

    ← Return to WOKE Part 1: Staying Awake in a World of Injustice

  • 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.