Haibun Beatnik Style

Jack Kerouac was one of the Beat poets of the West Coast (although he was originally from Massachusetts) in the 1950s. Inspired by the Japanese haiku poets and haibun writers, such as Buson, he tried his own hand at haibun, which is a journal entry followed by a haiku poem. The following excerpt is from Kerouac's book "Desolation Angels."

"the wind, the wind--
And there's my poor endeavoring human desk at which I sit so often during the day, facing south, the papers and pencils and the coffee cup with sprigs of alpine fir and a weird orchid of the heights wiltable in one day -- my Beechnut gum, my tobacco pouch, dusts, pitiful pulp magazines I have to read, view south to all those snowy majesties -- The waiting is long.

On Starvation Ridge
Little sticks
Are trying to grow."

[haibun][beatnik][Jack Kerouac][haiku][Desolation Angels] ◦

Haibun Beatnik Style