Jack Kerouac Haiku

Jack Kerouac Haiku

http://users.rcn.com/jhudak.interport/Jack.html

Jack Kerouac

American Haiku (Copyright 1959) "The American Haiku is not exactly the Japanese Haiku. The Japanese Haiku is strictly disciplined to seventeen syllables but since the language structure is different I don't think American Haikus (short three-line poems intended to be completely packed with Void of Whole) should worry about syllables because American speech is something again...bursting to pop. Above all, a Haiku must be very simple and free of all poetic trickery and make a little picture and yet be as airy and graceful as a Vivaldi Pastorella." Jack Kerouac Early morning yellow flowers, thinking about the drunkards of Mexico. No telegram today only more leaves fell. Nightfall, boy smashing dandelions with a stick. Holding up my purring cat to the moon I sighed. Drunk as a hoot owl, writing letters by thunderstorm. Empty baseball field a robin hops along the bench.

1 of 8

10/20/08 2:19 PM

Jack Kerouac Haiku


All day long wearing a hat that wasn't on my head. Crossing the football field coming home from work the lonely businessman. After the shower among the drenched roses the bird thrashing in the bath. Snap your finger stop the world rain falls harder. Nightfall, too dark to read the page too cold. Following each other my cats stop when it thunders. Wash hung out by moonlight Friday night in May. The bottoms of my shoes are clean from walking in the rain. Glow worm sleeping on this flower your light's on. Back to Index

Jack Kerouac

The Northport Haiku (Copyright 1964)

2 of 8

10/20/08 2:19 PM

Jack Kerouac Haiku


Jack Kerouac wrote these haiku in Northport in 1964 at the home of the artist Stanley Twardowicz who was also a good friend of his. Kerouac had been living in Northport for some time and it is fortunate that these rare haiku have been recorded and kept. They are a section of a larger collection produced at the time. They first appeared in the American small press magazine STREET Volume 1 number 4 in the Spring of 1975. Close your eyes Landlord knocking On the back door. A quiet Autumn night and these fools Are starting to argue Lonely brickwalls in Detroit Sunday afternoon piss call O for Vermont again The barn on an Autumn night Fiddlydee! Another day, Another something-or-other! Whatever it is, I quit -now I'll let my breath out How many cats they need around here For any orgy? Tonight I'll lower my tail -I've seen them around town In Haikkaido a cat has no luck Every cat in Kyoto can see through the fog. The birds start singing but he is in the cat meadows

3 of 8

10/20/08 2:19 PM

Jack Kerouac Haiku


I'll climb up a tree and scratch Katapatafataya If I go out now, my paws will get wet A car is coming but the cat knows It's not a snake In London-town cats can sleep In the butcher's doorway. I should have scratched that spot before I started to sleep Haiku my eyes! my mother is calling! Back to Index

Jack Kerouac

Some Western Haiku

from Book of Haiku (Copyright 1968)

Arms folded to the moon, Among the cows. Birds singing in the dark - Rainy dawn.

4 of 8

10/20/08 2:19 PM

Jack Kerouac Haiku


Elephants munching on grass - loving Head side by side. Missing a kick at the icebox door It closed anyway. This July evening, a large frog On my door sill. Catfish fighting for his life, and winning, Splashing us all. Evening coming the office girl Unloosing her scarf. The low yellow moon above the Quiet lamplit house Shall I say no? - fly rubbing its back legs Unencouraging sign - the fish store Is closed. Nodding against the wall, the flowers Sneeze Straining at the padlock, the garage doors At noon The taste of rain - Why kneel? The moon, the falling star - Look elsewhere The rain has filled the birdbath

5 of 8

10/20/08 2:19 PM

Jack Kerouac Haiku


Again, almost And the quiet cat sitting by the post Perceives the moon Useless, useless, the heavy rain Driving into the sea. Juju beads on the Zen manual: My knees are cold. Those birds sitting out there on the fence They're all going to die. The bottoms of my shoes are wet from walking in the rain In my medicine cabinet, the winter fly has died of old age. November - how nasal the drunken Conductor's call The moon had a cat's mustache For a second A big fat flake of snow Falling all alone The summer chair rocking by itself In the blizzard Back to Index

Jack Kerouac 6 of 8

10/20/08 2:19 PM

Jack Kerouac Haiku


from Heaven and Other Poems (Copyright 1977/Posthumous)

The little worm lowers itself from the roof By a self shat thread Back to Index

Jack Kerouac

from the novel Desolation Angels (Copyright 1965)

Desolation Angels is similar to a long haibun. Some of the fragments make it as haiku while others don't quite make it. I've included a few that seem to be close to what we'd call traditional American Haiku. (John Hudak) A bubble, a shadow woop The lightning flash Thunder in the mountains the iron Of my mother's love Mist boiling from the ridge - the mountains Are clean Mist before the peak 7 of 8

10/20/08 2:19 PM

Jack Kerouac Haiku


- the dream Goes on as cold water in a dell on a dusty tired trail Girls' footprints in the sand - Old mossy pile Wooden house raw gray Pink light in the window Neons, Chinese restaurants coming on Girls come by shades

(thanks to Ron Patterson for supplying the Kerouac haiku reference material)

Back to Index

8 of 8

10/20/08 2:19 PM

Jack Kerouac Haiku

Recommend Documents