before visible dawn
the sky is a bruise
any stars that might have shone
long since disappeared
bare branches sway round
nimbus shift their leaden bulks
weight against shadow
atop a slight band
of subtle lighter grey
suffusing into
the leavening dark
all the hues mingle and swirl
nothing linear
this is how dawn begins
is this how everything begins:
from what we can’t see
and therefore name darkness void
when it is neither
and both
John Janelle Backman composes rensakus (a series of connected haikus) as a cornerstone of her daily prayer. Most mornings she watches the ever-changing sky, examines her deepest self, and writes a rensaku that both responds to what she sees and reveres the divine spirit. Readers are invited to draw the poem into themselves and make it their own. Outside of prayer, Janelle has published essays, poems, or both in The Iowa Review, Catapult, Typehouse, HerStry, and Amethyst Review, among other places. Find her at backmanwriter.com.
