Member-only story
Billboard in the Forest:
DON’T POLLUTE
THE ENVIRONMENT
I’m reading through Book of Haikus, a compilation of poems by Jack Kerouac, mostly collected from notebooks. Amazing work. I’m hoping to turn into a Dead Poets Live prompt in the coming weeks, starting to see and notice ideas for these small poems around me.
I think the “American” or Western Haiku concept, three lines, no rules, with a turn-transition or dose of irony, may be closer to the original vision of the Japanese poets who created Haiku than the common rule of 5–7–5 syllables.
My “American Haiku,” was written in Kenya:)
From Kerouac: “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.”
