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How did Jack Kerouac adapt Japanese haiku into Western haiku?

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Portrait of Jack Kerouac, American novelist and poet, looking over his shoulder in a collared shirt, circa 1965. — Jack Kerouac American novelist and poet Jack Kerouac, c. 1965.

Jack Kerouac adapted the traditional Japanese haiku by departing from its strict 17-syllable, three-line structure to create an American tradition. Influenced by his study of Zen and the work of poets like Gary Snyder, Kerouac redefined the form to prioritize simplicity and visual clarity.1

In his collection Scattered Poems (1971), Kerouac proposed that a "Western haiku" should simply convey a significant image in three short lines, remaining free of "poetic trickery" while maintaining an "airy and graceful" quality. Rather than adhering to rigid syllable counts, he focused on capturing a "little picture" through language.1

Kerouac frequently utilized this adapted form throughout his work, incorporating it into his novels such as The Dharma Bums and using it as a structural device in Desolation Angels to serve as "bridges" or connectives between sections of his spontaneous prose.1