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Loved this.
I was only familiar with some of Kerouac's poetry before, but never knew he was so adept at writing haiku until discovering this book.
The haiku here are written in Kerouac's own inimitable style - that is to say he bends the traditional rules just a tad, ha. But what a result, or should I say results.
What this book offers is a treasure of vividly sketched vignettes of nature and life, more emotionally arresting than they first seem. In the past few weeks since I got this book, I've carried it with me while traveling (it's almost pocket-size) as a kind of Zen handbook, each individual haiku offering a sip of meditative revelation. I enjoyed them immensely; more so than ordinary haiku which I always find get a bit boring after a few. But Kerouac's style of writing is so infused with energy and free-spiritism that it's hard not to feel affected by them. I just love how these haiku (or haikus as Jack liked to say) seem so casual and off-the-cuff, but as we see from some images of Kerouac's notebooks in the introduction, are actually a result of self-imposed strict editing.
I should also add that there is a great introduction to this book by an enthusiastic Kerouac scholar, which was very insightful and really added to the collection.
Yep it's safe to say that this collection makes me love Kerouac even more than ever.
Just some of my favourites include:
The sky is still empty,
the rose is still
on the typewriter
One flower
on the cliffside
nodding at the canyon
Quietly pouring coffee
in the afternoon
How pleasant!
Straining at the padlock
the garage doors
at noon
The other man, just as
lonesome as I am
In this empty universe
The tree looks
like a dog
barking at Heaven
But there are so many more! If you are a fan of Kerouac's prose then you have to try his poetry side. It's, as to be expected, pretty darn cool.
I was only familiar with some of Kerouac's poetry before, but never knew he was so adept at writing haiku until discovering this book.
The haiku here are written in Kerouac's own inimitable style - that is to say he bends the traditional rules just a tad, ha. But what a result, or should I say results.
What this book offers is a treasure of vividly sketched vignettes of nature and life, more emotionally arresting than they first seem. In the past few weeks since I got this book, I've carried it with me while traveling (it's almost pocket-size) as a kind of Zen handbook, each individual haiku offering a sip of meditative revelation. I enjoyed them immensely; more so than ordinary haiku which I always find get a bit boring after a few. But Kerouac's style of writing is so infused with energy and free-spiritism that it's hard not to feel affected by them. I just love how these haiku (or haikus as Jack liked to say) seem so casual and off-the-cuff, but as we see from some images of Kerouac's notebooks in the introduction, are actually a result of self-imposed strict editing.
I should also add that there is a great introduction to this book by an enthusiastic Kerouac scholar, which was very insightful and really added to the collection.
Yep it's safe to say that this collection makes me love Kerouac even more than ever.
Just some of my favourites include:
The sky is still empty,
the rose is still
on the typewriter
One flower
on the cliffside
nodding at the canyon
Quietly pouring coffee
in the afternoon
How pleasant!
Straining at the padlock
the garage doors
at noon
The other man, just as
lonesome as I am
In this empty universe
The tree looks
like a dog
barking at Heaven
But there are so many more! If you are a fan of Kerouac's prose then you have to try his poetry side. It's, as to be expected, pretty darn cool.
