i got very into Jack Kerouac's haiku over the summer last year. the last time i had read or written a haiku was when i was in grade school and i found the limitations of the style to be more of an annoyance than an inspiration at the time. this was an extremely childish way to view things, but i was a child. so to discover that Kerouac had largely abandoned the syllable constraints in his attempt at an "American" form of the poetry was interesting. it seemed more achievable to attempt to think in this way when observing the world and possibly writing my own. he also lead by example by writing hundreds of these poems in the margins of his journals, letters to friends, and as the basis for some of his prose in his novels.
supposedly this style stripped the form down to its essence. each poem's (or 'pops' as he called them) goal became to depict in the mind of the reader a clear image or experience. i don't think that differs too much from what the traditional approach achieves, in fact Kerouac's can feel far more limited in their range than the Japanese masters of the traditional form (which i did begin to explore and appreciate because of Kerouac's work to be fair). but he does meet this goal in most of his works. everything from desolation and emptiness to silly humor. what he did do by removing the constraints was adapt the form to an American way of speaking. English and Japanese are of course different languages. and in my brief research on the American haiku form the differences between the languages are key in why his unencumbered style and the limitations in the traditional style produce such beautiful results.
some of my favorite pops of Kerouac's include:
Frozen in the birdbath, a leaf The windmills of Oklahoma look in every direction Useless useless! --heavy rain driving into the sea The barn, swimming in a sea of windblown leaves Missing a kick at the icebox door it closed anyway - Jack Kerouac
there are too many of his that i love, i have to stop myself here. i think this is a good sample.
as i mentioned, this summer i was inspired to try my hand at this because of Kerouac's relaxed approach. i spent months in my daily life looking for moments worthy of capturing in these little poems. it bred gratitude and lifted my spirit. i was able to see more cleary than before the simple, profound beauty of the world around me. i struggled to even approach the least inspired of Kerouac's.
anyway, here are some of mine that i liked enough to save
up late -- alone with the cat and the train whistle hanging on, the oak leaf struggles against the autumn wind through the leaves autumn's weak afternoon sun in the distance a train whistle green flash. the trolley needs to be reset morning, coffee steam rises dancing out the window the cat stares out the window into the morning rain - hjkl