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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2010 11:42:59 GMT
"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.
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.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 18, 2010 14:39:51 GMT
Fantastic -- I had no idea! Are there more of these?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2010 12:17:00 GMT
I LOVE these K!. Years ago, I remember my brother, who was huge Jack Kerouac fan,and took many cross country trips hitchhiking,an occasional freight train ride etc.reading some of these gems to me. I remember sitting on the beach with a bottle of wine,him reciting them to me and afterwards writing one,putting it into the empty bottle and tossing into the sea. It was especially poignant and bittersweet to encounter them again on here yesterday because my brother would have been 58 yesterday. Thank you for the memory K.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2010 14:26:46 GMT
Fantastic -- I had no idea! Are there more of these? Yes, there are more. Let me see if I can dig them up. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2010 14:31:08 GMT
The Northport Haiku (Copyright 1964)
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
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!
Some Western Haiku
from Book of Haiku (Copyright 1968)
Arms folded
to the moon,
Among the cows.
Birds singing
in the dark
- Rainy dawn.
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
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
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 19, 2010 18:58:38 GMT
Wow ~~ thanks so much! If I knew nothing else about Jack Kerouac, I would be completely entranced because of these poems.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2010 18:27:38 GMT
Blast from the past.
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Post by fumobici on Sept 17, 2010 18:55:18 GMT
^^^ Fun to watch  |
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Post by cigalechanta on Sept 18, 2010 3:40:11 GMT
A few years ago, I asked you if you named yourself after Jack Kerouac. You replied NO!
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Post by Jazz on Sept 18, 2010 9:55:38 GMT
Beautiful. I like,
Drunk as a hoot owl,
writing letters
by thunderstorm.
Time to finally read On the Road. I started to read about him and it is interesting that he was the son of French-Canadian parents and his name was Jean-Louis Kerouac. He originally began to write On the Road in French, wrote it in 3 weeks but had to wait 7 years for it to be published. The family certainly wasn’t long living, he died at 47 and his only child, his daughter Jan (also a writer), died at 44.
The video in #6 is great.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2010 18:25:27 GMT
A few years ago, I asked you if you named yourself after Jack Kerouac. You replied NO! Maybe you spelled it wrong.  I even went to see his grave in Lowell. |
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Post by cigalechanta on Sept 19, 2010 0:08:21 GMT
I went rollar skating in Lowell when in High School. I was born in a nearby town. The old mill is now a museum. The town has made improvements after it was dying.
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Post by cigalechanta on Sept 19, 2010 0:14:10 GMT
here's my favorite interview
mimi, ex ex beatnik...lol
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Post by cigalechanta on Sept 19, 2010 16:54:54 GMT
you might know that there's an annual jack Kerouac Literary festival? this year it's from Sept.30 to Oct. 3 in Lowell. The keynote speaker is novelist Russell Banks who wrote the film adaption of ON THE ROAD for Francis Ford Coppala. There are tours to JC's important sites in his life and literature.
His BIL will read some letters between JC and Ginsberg. On the closing day, JC's friend Billy Koumantzells will reminisce about his friend. These gritty stories are out in a new CD: On the Lowell Beat:My times with Jack Kerouac.
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Post by cigalechanta on Sept 19, 2010 16:59:04 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2012 6:22:30 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Mar 23, 2012 8:01:50 GMT
oh dear - it won't open the link! Maybe just my computer...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2012 8:11:00 GMT
It opens on my awful office computer, so keep trying!
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Post by mickthecactus on Mar 23, 2012 13:33:25 GMT
In my teens I read every book of his that I could get my hands on.
Wonder what I'd think of them now?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2012 14:16:58 GMT
I read the recently published unexpurgated version of On the Road a year or two ago and I found myself more impressed than the first time I read the book. I think the first time I was impatient for "things to happen" but when I went back to it, I just relaxed my way through the book.
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Kathy Mitro
Guest
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Post by Kathy Mitro on Apr 18, 2015 16:15:01 GMT
I love these. This man was so talented. Found this page while looking up painting haiku which is an offshoot of literary haiku. Really tiny painting measuring only 11" by 14" with a single simple subject. Was looking cause I love painting them myself any one interested in seeing a painting haiku can see mine at artbykathymitro.blogspot.comMitro Art
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Post by onlyMark on Apr 18, 2015 18:18:05 GMT
To freeze the moment in seventeen syllables is very diffic
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Post by Vert on Nov 10, 2017 14:26:10 GMT
Nice! Thanks!
P.S. The bottoms of my shoes
are clean
from walking in the rain.
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I even went to see his grave in Lowell.
