• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Prose of a Con

Poetry and Prose by Russell Wardlow

  • Home
  • About
  • Prose
    • Culture
    • Inside
    • Love
    • Mercy
    • Spirit
    • Trauma
  • Listen
  • News
  • Connect
  • Support

A Dad in ’09 and ’12, a Father in ’20, Still Becoming a Man

April 11, 2022 by Russell Wardlow Leave a Comment

I was a dad
before I was a man
I’ve been a man
for less years than a father
so I’m growing with my kids

teaching what I never knew
all those years as I grew
more physical than anything else
and whoever I believed I was being
was really an unknown cry for help

and hurt people hurt…

well you can determine that for yourself
discipline shouldn’t conjure belts
that manifest welts
I was but a foster child
having no real identity, nor place
that aided and empathized with how I felt
so moments came and went
their lessons lost and forgotten
on high old dusty shelves
in the many homes I’ve entered
all which I left behind
all which left me behind
hindered injured dismembered
either me, myself, and my peace of mind

Filed Under: Love, Trauma

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

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.

Read More

  • Whose Mind is it Anyway June 30, 2022
  • Objects June 30, 2022
  • Same Thang, Different Name June 30, 2022
  • Optical Ill-lusions June 30, 2022
  • Hollow Symbols June 30, 2022

Themes

  • Culture
  • Inside
  • Love
  • Mercy
  • Spirit
  • Trauma
  • Uncategorized

Footer

Prose of a Con

Prose of a Con is sponsored by giveabeat.org

  • Instagram

Navigation

  • Home
  • About
  • Prose
  • Listen
  • News
  • Connect
  • Support

Themes

  • Culture
  • Inside
  • Love
  • Mercy
  • Spirit
  • Trauma
  • Uncategorized

Prose of a Con © 2023 · web design by Studio Lyko