Image: Ron Rosenstock
"may all prisoners be free
of the dark night of the soul"
Daybreak (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1135894) is an e-book of photo-tanka in the form of poem-prayers for prisoners. Irish poet Gabriel Rosenstock responds to the black-and-white landscape photography of Ron Rosenstock (USA) with a poetic invention from 7th-century Japan, 5-7-5-7-7-syllable tanka. It is a beautiful symbiosis of visual and written art used to express empathy towards a marginalized group of people, the prisoners. Often discriminated against, they rarely take the spotlight in such ways that their humanity is expressed validly, and this is exactly what Daybreak does; it leaves readers pondering about those deemed unatonable. It questions the very basis of the notion that incarcerated must be isolated instead of reintegrated in the society, by evoking the feeling of sympathy in readers as they contemplate about their own faults and existence.
The sad reality of these men and women is that they are forgotten, invisible for the rest of the world. But it is because of people like Rosenstock, a poet whose empathy knows no boundaries, that they are reminded of their humanity, as is the reader.
growing old in here
and if I die—who will know
I’m but a number
I have forgotten my name
I have become nobody
Society tends to forget that prisoners are human beings with identities and fragilities, that they are more than just a number.
say, what is his name
what was he like as a child
who were his parents
say, what do we know of him
the forgotten prisoner
Although being incarcerated is excruciating, Rosenstock realizes that there is certain freedom in imprisonment, being forced to turn inwards and reflect about ones choices in life.
to be all alone
to be with one's inner Self
and a rolling wave
a wave that ascends the spine
the sparkling spume of freedom
Same notion extends to the poem below in which Rosenstock contemplates about the dual nature of existence.
lily-white his soul
extending beyond his cell
it is the unborn
before crime and punishment
before the earth's beginning
Confined, not just by walls, but in their minds as well, prisoner long to leave the night behind them and rejoice in light of the daybreak. Rosenstock understands this, and with every new page of his touching collection these men and women regain their humanity. By the end of it both they and readers learn how to let the light into their hearts.
come, light, come streaming
come, light, through these prison bars
come, light, come flowing
flow into this heart of mine
come streaming, flowing, streaming
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