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Prose of a Con

Poetry and Prose by Russell Wardlow

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Belly of the Beast

November 26, 2020 by Russell Wardlow Leave a Comment

Deception, the etymology of her dialect

she sang like sirens

luring me blissfully into my demise

fatefully alerted to the fangs of her promises

my surrender was savored

eyeing the glistening venom oozing from her salivation

serenaded to a triumphant laughter

lifelessly frozen in her deadly clutches

victory and animas adorning her gaze

then her jaws widened grotesquely

consuming all of my sight

blocking even the expansive rays of the sun

turning the day to night almost instantaneously

as I stood, aligned with her tonsils

eerily similar to the shadow of mine

or the shadow I was foreshadowed to become

and with a swooshing sound

accompanied by a vacuuming vortex

her jaws snapped

and fangs jarred, barring down

with my being fatally siphoned from what was once life

once land

once liberation

now lossed, swallowed whole into her belly

where I remained idle

not dead

nor alive by any means

just wasting, while torturously preserved

to relive this consumption in the belly of my beast every day

her thirst rarely quenched

her hunger never satisfied

and heroes are just a fable

because no one can slay this dragon

they only feed her bottomless appetite

hoping she’s appeased

as to not get caught in her caging gaze

bringing down her imprisoning jaws

fearing being enveloped whole

so few rarely dare visit

too scared to risk their lives,

trying to save their lossed loved ones

while distantly crying out that,

“she must be too full by now, let some out!”

but they’ve seen love swallowed whole,

without regard, time and time again

and all that lies left

is a thick dreary fog of,

fear, contempt and hopelessness

the dragon has even been known to consume those as well

there’s truly no escape, inside or out

you either feed her

or get fed to her

and just like her servers,

her hunger knows no bounds

so life remains bleak and dark for most

because there’s no light inside the belly of the beast

Filed Under: Love, Mercy, Spirit

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Prose of a Con

Prose of a Con is a collection of Russell Wardlow’s prose and poetry written entirely behind bars. Through writings on family, spirituality, freedom, love, justice, redemption, and vulnerability, Russell seeks to show the humanity and hope of individuals like himself who are incarcerated.

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