Poèmes dispersés

by Jack Kerouac, Philippe Mikriammos (Translator)

Spontaneous poetry by the author of On the Road, gathered from underground and ephemeral publications; including "San Francisco Blues," the variant texts of "Pull My Daisy," and American haiku.

HERE DOWN ON DARK EARTH
before we all go to Heaven
VISIONS OF AMERICA
All that hitchhikin
All that railroadin
All that comin back
to America -Jack Kerouac

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction, American, Literature, Collections, The United States Of America

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac, known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.

Of French-Canadian ancestry, Kerouac was raised in a French-speaking home in Lowell, Massachusetts. He "learned English at age six and spoke with a marked accent into his late teens." During World War II, he served in the United States Merchant Marine; he completed his first novel at the time, which was published more than 40 years after his death. His first published book was The Town and the City (1950), and he achieved widespread fame and notoriety with his second, On the Road, in 1957. It made him a beat icon, and he went on to publish 12 more novels and numerous poetry volumes.
Kerouac is recognized for his style of stream of consciousness spontaneous prose. Thematically, his work covers topics such as his Catholic spirituality, jazz, travel, promiscuity, life in New York City, Buddhism, drugs, and poverty. He became an underground celebrity and, with other Beats, a progenitor of the hippie movement, although he remained antagonistic toward some of its politically radical elements. He has a lasting legacy, greatly influencing many of the cultural icons of the 1960s, including Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jerry Garcia and The Doors.
In 1969, at the age of 47, Kerouac died from an abdominal hemorrhage caused by a lifetime of heavy drinking. Since then, his literary prestige has grown, and several previously unseen works have been published.

Reviews

[kaelan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Beats and I through the ages:

Figure A: Allen Ginsberg:

(1) Teenager: "Wow, this guy is brilliant!"

(2) Early 20s: "What a try-hard bore."

(3) Late 20s, having been reunited with "Howl" by way of an upper-level university course: "Wow, this guy is pretty brilliant."

Figure B: Jack Kerouac:

(1) Teenager: "Wow, this guy is so cool!"

(2) Early 20s: "Jeez, this guy needs to lay off the sauce."

(3) Late 20s: "Now where did I leave my copy of Howl...?"

[Gerhard · Rating 2 out of 5]

And
The taste of worms
Is soft & salty
Like the sea
Or tears.

Review to follow.

[Grace Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

all my doors are open
Cut my thoughts

Heal the raindrop
Sow the eye
Woe the worm
Work the wise

Life is a pity. Close the book, go on,

will write it, all the talk of the world everywhere in this morning,

Dying in ecstasy

That's when you taught me tears, Ah

"Neither life nor death - neither existence
nor non-existence - but the central lapse and absence of them both."

and with joy you realize for the first time
"Thinking's just like not thinking -
So I don't have to think any more"

(Devoid of space
Is the mind of grace.

This July evening, a large fog On my door sill.

The taste of rain
- Why kneel?

[Jolanta (knygupė) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 *
Keturias * daviau is senos meiles autoriui.

TO EDWARD DAHLBERG

Don't use the telephone.
People are never ready to answer it.
Use poetry.
1970

[J.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this the first time I checked out the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco (which was a neat little store, by the way). I wanted to get something Kerouac and I walked away with this, mostly cause i've never read any of his poetry before.


I didn't have as hard of a time as I anticipated i would have, considering my usual struggles with poetry (which I've finally decided that it is POETRY that doesn't like me, rather than the other way around). I can see the DNA of Jazz music in the word usage, the rhythms of the poems and such. At times I went along with it just fine, other times I had no idea what was going on and wishing i had an audio tape of him reading it for me or something.

The haikus (or Western Haiku's as he called them) are particularly good and very accessible. At any rate, this little book is well worth peeking into if you're at all curious.

[Mark]

“..I suddenly realised all things just come and go
including any feeling of sadness: that too will go:
sad today glad tomorrow: somber today drunk tomorrow:
why fret
so much?”

I don’t spend a lot of time reading poetry even though it is a genre that I love. I guess because it is so freestyle in so many ways and such an amazing way to process and allow thoughts to flow in structured and unstructured ways.

I picked up Jack Kerouac’s Scattered Poems from one of those little book boxes in the neighbourhood and thought I’d give it a go. I read On the Road a few years back and while I found it a challenging read I enjoyed the free flow stream of consciousness experience.

Scattered Poems is however, next level. Kerouac takes us to some crazy places in his words... eg:

“Pull my daisy
Tip my cup
Cut my thoughts
For coconuts”

I made a point right from the beginning to not try to look for any deeper meanings in these stanzas but to appreciate the words pieced together at a surface level. Kerouac pushes the boundaries of syntax and semantics as he brings words and phrases together that in a sense don’t belong together and don’t make sense. It seems to be in the non-sense that he surrounds himself. Occasionally there is something deeply profound as in the poem that the stanza at the top of this review comes from. But these are few and far between.

Sometimes the non-sense is in the bluntness and ordinariness of the words and potential meanings. Kind of like.. why would you bother writing that - it seems blatantly obvious and not really something you’d write like the Western Haiku:

Those birds sitting
out there on the fence -
They’re all going to die.

I read this little book over a number of weeks. It certainly wasn’t something I could read in one go. I will read it again. It’s intriguing and there is kind of something deep and meaningful in its lack of depth and meaning. I don’t feel like I can rate this one.

[Edita · Rating 1 out of 5]

My beloved who wills not to love me:
My life which cannot love me:
I seduce both.

[Maddy Aaen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some gems in here if you sift through the gravel, but I think the gravel is kind of the point

[AI91 · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like sonnets or poems with intricate, delicate lines that beautifully describe scenery or the human experience, this is NOT the poem book for you. This poem book is the exact opposite- it's dirty, vulgar, playful, funny, urban, and very much attuned to the Beat Generation. I liked it. In particular the Haiku section was my favorite. It takes a stab at American life and explores the madness and disruption of the "Apple-pie American Dream" due to modernization/urbanization (and drugs, let's be honest.) If something dirty and playful like "pull my daisy" doesn't make you laugh, again, this is not the poem book for you.

[Aimee Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Along with Dharma Bums, these 'Scattered Poems' (a few in particular) probably changed my life and the way I write and carry myself. If you're attempting to read Dharma Bums, you really should find a copy of Scattered and read the two together because there's a lot of related subject material about Japhy and his coming about. Just amazing.

[Marley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read and re-read this constantly when I was stuck in the middle of nowhere for a couple years.

[Luis · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Súbitamente comprendí que todas las cosas sólo van y vienen,
incluido cualquier sentimiento de tristeza: también se irá,
triste hoy, alegre mañana: sobrio hoy borracho mañana,
¿por qué inquietarse tanto?
Todos en el mundo tienen defectos, lo mismo que yo.
¿Por qué deprimirse?
Es sólo un sentimiento que viene y va"

[rogue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only for the hardcore Kerouac fan. Unpolished scribblings with a gem here and there, but overall an undisciplined collection.

[Leopoldo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gustó mucho. Hartas ganas de leerlo en inglés, y también su On the Road.

[V Rendina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite Beat poet, but some gems of his are, in fact, gems.

[Alfonso · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find Jack Kerouac interesting –as a poet figure– but I acknowledge it is from a romantic and idealized light that I probably developed while in my early youth. At the same time, I kind of downplay in my mind his famous method of writing (a sort of dadaist stream of consciousness) and regard it as unpolished and undisciplined, although I’ve read that he did in fact revise and rewrite.

Regarding his actual poetry (this being the second book of poetry I’ve read from him), I found some poems unexpectedly profound and moving. Some are as entertaining as a jazz song can be –bee boppy badoo badoo–, and some other, frankly, I don’t care as much. Some of the haikus in the last part of the book are just great and some others feel like he’s trying too hard.

I guess Kerouac was definitely a spawn from his era and his generation. It seems very romantic at first and from afar but –just like with Holden Caufield– as one grows, it seems more and more spoiled and teenage-angsty. I dunno, I’m just think I’m torn about Jack Kerouac. I did enjoy some of it but at the same time I guess I’ve just outgrown the Beatniks, if that makes sense.

[JG Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t like this as much as Ginsberg’s Howl, but I did enjoy most of this. I can’t say that I understand a lot of what is being said, but nonetheless it is a good read and perhaps a good introduction to Kerouac. I particularly liked the western haikus at the end. I’ll need to check out more of that. 4 stars!

[pablo! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ligera decepción está primera aproximación a la generación Beat. No he terminado de congeniar con los poemas de los 50, alguna pequeña joya en los de inicios y finales de los 60, quizás algo más en 1970 única y exclusivamente y verdaderos destellos de grandeza en sus haikus occidentales. Su forma de tratar la muertes es más que interesante pero no creo que la traducción me haga justicia.

La luna tuvo
un bigote de gato
Durante un segundo

//

Las suelas de mis zapatos
están mojadas
de caminar en la lluvia

\\

Uno de mis favoritos:

Esos pájaros colocados
allí fuera en la barandilla
Todos van a morir

//

En mi armario de medicinas
las moscas del invierno
han muerto de vejez

\\

El sabor
de la lluvia
— ¿Por qué arrodillarse?

//

Signo descorazonador
- la pescadería
Está cerrada

[Levi Czentye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Personally, I found this volume quite unbalanced. However, I liked some lines here and there:

1.
listen: go find your soul,
Go smell the wind, go far.
Life is a pity. Close the book, go on

2.
Dying is ecstasy.

3.
Someday you’ll be lying
there in a nice trance
and suddenly a hot
soapy brush will be
applied to your face
—it’ll be unwelcome
—someday the
undertaker will shave you

4.
Ah me, I knew God You
had better plans than that
So whatever plan you have for me
Splitter of majesty
Make it short

5.
I went outside in the pure dawn: but why should I be glad
about
a dawn
that dawns on another rumor of war,
and why should I be sad: isnt the air at least pure and fresh?

6.
Don’t use the telephone.
People are never ready to answer it.
Use poetry.

[Riana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked:
Lucien Midnight

Sept. 16, 1961 POEM

+

Some Western Haikus by Kerouac:

Arms folded
to the moon,
Among the cows

Missing a kick
at the icebox door
It closed anyway.

Birds singing
in the dark
-- Rainy dawn.

Evening coming --
the office girl
Unloosing her scarf.

Useless, useless,
the heavy rain
Driving into the sea.

[Louie · Rating 4 out of 5]

i think the highlight of this little collection were the haikus, which i found very well done. a good portion of his longer work went over my head, perhaps better understood on a reread, but there are certain lines and certain poems that are absolutely beautiful.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Western haikus did nothing for me but most of the other stuff… so great!

[Genesis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5

No está mal

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Save me!
Love me!”

Not my favorite collection of Kerouac poems (that will always be SEA) but interesting nonetheless! The haikus really struck me. I didn’t connect with every poem, but the ones I did feel I FELT. Worth a read for a Kerouac fanatic, but not a required reading.

[Dina · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Don't use the telephone
People are never ready to answer it
Use poetry"

[a.h. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[julianna lindo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like his haikus

[Lady Caroline de Bourgh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kerouac is good at narrative--as anyone would guess given the popularity of "On the Road." His narrative poems were good, but his more thematic, grand idea poems were lacking.

[Otto · Rating 3 out of 5]

These poems were kind of hit-or-miss for me, even if I've historically enjoyed Kerouac's other works. His poetry leaves a bit to be desired.

That's not to say I didn't have any favorites from this collection! I really loved "Sitting Under Tree Number Two" and "Pull My Daisy" — the latter collaborative poem between Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Cassady had great rhythm and was fun to read.

[Sabareesh · Rating 2 out of 5]

They should've left these scattered.

A couple of good ones in here and the haikus were nice, but the rest was either lost on me or had no redeeming value.