Jack Kerouac's Book of Haikus Week #3
Let's talk about Kerouac, Issa and Buddhism
Hello, Poets of the Night!
Today, I’m mixing it up by sending out a video post with a haiku comic adaptation of a Kerouac haiku.
Previously in the comments of an earlier post, I mentioned that some of Keroac’s haiku remind me of ones by the poet Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828). The surface similarities are the ways the poets use humor to mock the powerful and their love of scatological subject matter.
But there are some deeper similarities as well. Both poets infused their work with Buddhism.
This produces some interesting differences as well. Kerouac studied Zen Buddhism while Issa was a Pure Land Buddhism lay priest.
The rest of this post is for paying subscribers. Below the paywall, you will find a haiku comic inspired by a Kerouac haiku as well as a video of me talking about Kerouac, Issa, and Buddhism.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Weirdo Poetry to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.