The Subterraneans

A Poem by Connor Wolfe

From Wayfarer Magazine, Issue 42»

—Following the 2024 Election


We walk where roots twist,
where rivers hum ancient songs,
where light bends, refusing
the clean symmetry of the surface.

Up there, they press lives into molds,
worship at the altar of sameness—
words sterilized, dreams shelved.

But down here, the air is raw,
electric with unscripted truths.
Hearts beat to the rhythm of refusal,
whispers echo like thunder.
Call us lost, call us strange—
we’ve touched the earth’s marrow
and will not crawl back.


We rise from the cracks,
the places they paved over.
Their shiny cities hum compliance,
trading freedom for comfort,
nights lit by screens
selling back their emptiness. 

Down here, we are roots,
snaking beneath their towers,
breaking through stone.
Our voices rise—a swelling tide,
not silenced by laws, borders,
walls of glass and steel.

You don’t know how far down you’ve gone
until their world burns,
a kingdom of fear, paper-thin.
Let it burn.

We are the underground fire,
the poets, the dreamers,
the queers, the marginalized,
the ones who refuse
to surrender the night. 

From 2002 to 2022, Connor Wolfe (they/them) is the Founder of Wayfarer Magazine. Wolfe’s innovative approach to independent publishing led to two terms on the Board of Directors for the Independent Book Publisher’s Association, a TEDx talk at Yale University, and studies at Harvard University through grant programs. After delivering a TEDx Talk in 2018 about their experiences with successive trauma, Wolfe was invited to participate in broader mental health discussions at state and national levels. Wolfe holds a degree in Abnormal Psychology, with a focus on the intersection of mental illness and creativity. Driven by their passion for art, Wolfe also pursued a focus in Photojournalism at Harvard, studying under Samantha Appleton, the former Official White House Photographer for President Obama and the First Family. In early 2024, Wolfe worked as Volunteer Staff in the Collections Department of the Museum of Anthropology at Ghost Ranch with a team preparing sacred objects for repatriation under the newly updated Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. They are currently wintering along the Rio Puerco on Cerro Pedernal. thewildwolfe.substack.com