Book review: Book of Haikus, by Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) was a well-known American author and poet.  He wrote several novels (including On the Road and The Dharma Bums) which have been widely read and praised, and his name is practically synonymous with the Beat generation.  (The Beat Museum's web address is Kerouac.com)  He also wrote a lot of poetry, collected into many different volumes.  But some readers are unaware that Kerouac was an avid practitioner of haiku -- in fact, he wrote a whole book's worth of the poems, published posthumously under the title Book of Haikus.

The haiku included in Book of Haikus have been culled from many different notebooks and collections, some published and some not.  Some of the poems, such as the ones in the "Desolation Pops" section, focus on a single time period.  They are all written in Kerouac's free-flowing, almost stream-of-consciousness style, and they reflect many different facets of life in general, and his life in particular.

Some of the poems have since been reprinted a number of times, such as this one found on page 16:

Missing a kick

at the icebox door

It closed anyway

Many of the poems seem too simplistic upon first reading, more like a mundane observation than a haiku.  But often, a second reading will reveal a deeper layer to the poems, like with this one from "Desolation Pops" (page 83):

Morning meadow--

Catching my eye,

One weed

While many of Kerouac's haiku focus on animals, some reveal a streak of optimism, using the animal as the vehicle:

A turtle sailing along

on a log,

Head up

(page 20)

Book of Haikus includes an introduction by Regina Weinrich, titled "The Haiku Poetics of Jack Kerouac," which is worth reading by itself.  It includes pages of information about Kerouac, other Beat poets, and the haiku form itself.  The material will be of interest to Kerouac fans, and Ms. Weinrich presents it well.

Book of Haikus is a small, almost pocket-sized paperback published by Penguin that tops out at 200 pages.  The book has a retail price of $13.00, but somehow it currently costs $15 on Amazon and $16 on Barnes & Noble. Other editions may be available, and you can usually find a used copy online for $5-8.  Readers who like Kerouac's novels or other works will probably enjoy Book of Haikus, as will most English-language haiku enthusiasts.

(Originally posted on Helium.com, May 2010)

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