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Prose of a Con

Poetry and Prose by Russell Wardlow

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Recognizing a Black History Month Shero

February 1, 2022 by Russell Wardlow Leave a Comment

This month we should not only be honoring our ancestors that pushed through the veils and walls of resistance, speaking truth to power, unwavering in their beliefs, surmounting all odds for the generations to come, even at the cost of their own lives and inability to see the very impact and trails they blazed, but we should also celebrate and acknowledge, not just the black heroes with public fanfare, but those civil local personal and neighborly heroes we witness day to day, suffering in silence, but pushing on, carry forward, nevertheless with
resilience being the very definition of each breath.

This month, I honor Andrea Dunlap.

For your unparalleled struggle and striving to survive when the odds of success have been as unlikely and cruel as your very condition. But you cling to life with no reason but your own, masking your pain and executing with elegance and unrelenting character beyond reproach or excuse to the likes of strong souls from our ancestral past, I believe you have conjured the unequaled resolve of Harriet Tubman. And I salute you Solja, a real Sojourner of Truth! because although you’ve had every reason, Maya Angelou, still you rise, still you love, still, you smile, still, you live!

To the unknowing eyes, life has not been fair to you, but to the spiritual sound and wise, you have chosen a life to which you can develop the utmost character, resolve and moral imperative of the soul, and the body has been your very accelerator. I applaud and I celebrate your life and I highlight you in my spiritual and physical heart this month and commemorate your essence for lifetimes. There are lessons in struggles and you have taught me many.

Keep striving sista, I salute your mind, body, and soul. You have embodied the very strength and ability of human will and the divine power sourced within the body to fight and hold back all adversaries that threaten finality.

Through it all, you’ve nurtured even when uncared for and you have exemplified a mother of wisdom and love, developing a man from a boy being both parents in one, while fighting through a body of attacks brought on by Lupus, you are a survivor! And I am proud of you and look up to you and your courage, I’m proud to know you, to call you friend, and to hold love for you in my heart. You have consistently been one of my greatest fans and empowered me way before I thought to believe confidence in myself or know what it was that I had, you helped grow the man I am steadily becoming, and all I succeed at will be a testament to people like you in my life who never stopped believing and encouraging me, and only wanting to see me at my best, doing my best, and smiling while at it.

Thank you, Andrea, for helping me find myself as a black king, giving me copies of information of my culture, and endless selfless support, you taught me how to fight for life without a complaint, you are one of my Heroes…Heroines!

Keep seeking and summoning through silence, solace, spirit, and sanctuary in secret!

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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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