"American Haiku" Jack Kerouac

"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.



 

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