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Prose of a Con

Poetry and Prose by Russell Wardlow

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Culture

Bad news and Goodbyes

November 17, 2017 by Russell Wardlow 1 Comment

I ask myself sometimes..
What is it about bad news that sometimes settles me
As if the culmination of let downs makes it unfathomable for me to endure something good
Or the audacity of savoring something great
The hope for it seems just as ridiculous
Is it the comfort of no further expectations within the flat line of bad news
Is it the good news always has the possibility of turning bad, as if I’m half across a high line tight rope
Why is my comfort in misery or self masochism more easily lived with
But my promise haunts me more than goodbyes?
Maybe that’s what it is, the goodbyes I expect
The ones to come and the ones that came
I’ve spent my whole life remembering
Slammed doors, dial tones and more backs than faces
So its hard now to face you and every promise that comes attached
So don’t believe in me, I’m just another case of bad news
Goodbye freedom, goodbye opportunities, goodbye love…
At least I said it first this time

Filed Under: Culture, Love, Spirit, Trauma

Insight

September 13, 2017 by Russell Wardlow Leave a Comment

The inspiration that women incite,

Excites – and that’s insight

For inside, in that dim light

Within that dim life

In the depths of a lions den haunted by them nights

When the ink pen writes

every ink bleeds, the pen cries

symbolically when a man cries

with no woman in-sight.

Filed Under: Culture, Love, Spirit

Bed of lies

September 13, 2017 by Russell Wardlow Leave a Comment

Red, rose petals on the bed of defeat

My tongue intertwined between the legs of deceit

Penetrate my delusions on the lies of these sheets

She starts to scream out the side that she hides as she rises to her peak

But before she misspeaks…she peeks

She quiets, tenses & we lock eyes

She comes…

Forward with truth so strong she unlocks mine

Heaves in her chest, flush in her flesh was showing

nothing said, just tides of a melancholy knowing –

Dead, rose petals on the bed of deceit

I morbidly leave, from between, the legs of defeat…

Filed Under: Culture, Love, Trauma

Minutes Uncertain

September 13, 2017 by Russell Wardlow Leave a Comment

1 minute we fight, 1 minute we love

1 minute we hug, 1 minute we shove

1 minute we talk, next minute a fit

A whole minute we kiss

Next minute full of some venom we spit

It’s back and forth, but I put you first

Yet you wear your heart on your sleeveless shirt

So I’ll leave you first, instead of leavin’ hurt.

Filed Under: Culture, Love, Trauma

On My Ownly

September 12, 2017 by Russell Wardlow Leave a Comment

I let my shoulders speak, amongst the coldest peaks

No woe is me, no coat on me

My Edgar Allen Po-etry, flows in me, floetry

When focusing-

I’m a poacher for hope, when hope is hopeless in a culture 

When the coach is only me- 

And the phone don’t ring, I cope

‘Cause internally, my heart still beats to the songs I sing.

Filed Under: Culture, Spirit

Miva

September 12, 2017 by Russell Wardlow Leave a Comment

Passing time, when it’s still a test

30 something, you still a threat 

Leggings cool, but you’d kill a dress

I mean “I am” when I say Im-pressed

No secret, you kill the rest 

Yo’ secrets, still a guess

Victoria Secrets, if you confess

Soul seekin when we connect 

They say beauty is so vain

Well you have beauty in your veins

Because I see beauty in your pain

I think beauty is your name

Filed Under: Culture, Love, Mercy

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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.

Read More

  • Evolving Dream January 15, 2021
  • I Am U December 8, 2020
  • One last time December 7, 2020
  • This Sys-tem December 5, 2020
  • Concentration Camps December 4, 2020

Themes

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  • Mercy
  • Spirit
  • Trauma

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