Poet Profile

Chuck Brickley

Chuck Brickley is a North American haiku poet. A native San Franciscan, he experimented with the venerable Japanese form in high school, but did not discover its potential to express natural epiphanies until he moved to rural British Columbia in 1971. Inspired by small town life and the wonders of the Pacific Northwest, he took to heart Basho's directive: "Don't follow in the footsteps of the Masters; seek what they sought." In 1978 his first published haiku appeared in Modern Haiku; the following year he became Associate Editor of Modern Haiku, under the editorship of Bob Spiess. The next several years saw many published haiku, book reviews, a few awards, some translations. By 1986 Brickley, finding it increasingly difficult to balance work and family responsibilities with a "haiku way of life," dropped out of the EL haiku scene. Ironically it was not until he returned to San Francisco (for family reasons) in 2006, that he dropped back in. Communing with nature in both urban and wild areas along the California coast has re-invigorated his haiku practice. Furthermore, after having written in relative isolation all those years ago, he is now enjoying the fellowship of the haiku community – especially as a member of the Haiku Poets of Northern California. His poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies and collections. His first book of haiku, earthshine, won a THF Touchstone Award for Distinguished Books 2017, and a HSA Merit Book Award 2017 Honorable Mention.

Awards and Other Honors:

Modern Haiku - Eminent Mention Awards (1979-1980, 1982-1983); Modern Haiku - Honorable Mention Awards (1979-1980); Modern Haiku - Special Mention Award (1981); Modern Haiku - Modern Haiku Award (1981); The Haiku Society of America's Harold G. Henderson Awards for Haiku -2nd Place (1982); The San Francisco International Competition for Senryu (2008) - Judge; A Haiku Foundation Touchstone Award for Individual Poems (2014); The Haiku Calendar Competition - Winner (2014-15, 2017); The Haiku Calendar Competition - Runner-Up (2016); The Snapshot Book Competition - Winner (2015); The Gerald Brady Memorial Contest for the Best Unpublished Senryu 2017- Co-judge; A Haiku Foundation Touchstone Award for Distinguished Books (2017); The Haiku Society of America's Merit Book Award - Honorable Mention (2017).

Books Published:

earthshine, Snapshot Press (2017); open iris (editor), Two Autumns Press (2018).
Work Anthologised:
Aware: A Haiku Primer, Portal Publications, 1980; Big Data: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2014, Red Moon Press, 2015; but for their voices, Two Autumns Press, 2015; Canadian Haiku Anthology, Three Trees Press, 1981; Full of Moonlight: The Haiku Society of America 2016 Members' Anthology, Haiku Society of America 2016; Haiku 2015, Modern Haiku Press 2015; a haiku alphabet in celebration of summer, proof press 1995; Haiku, Anthologie Canadienne/Canadian Anthology, editions Asticou, 1985; The Haiku Anthology: Haiku and Senryu in English, Simon & Schuster, 1986; The Haiku Calendar 2015, Snapshot Press 2014; The Haiku Calendar 2016, Snapshot Press 2015; The Haiku Calendar 2017, Snapshot Press 2016; The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share and Teach Haiku, McGraw-Hill 1985; Haiku In English: The First Hundred Years, W.W. Norton 2013; Haiku Moment: An Anthology of Contemporary American Haiku, Tuttle 1993; The Modern English Haiku, Columbine Editions 1981; The Twenty Year Itch: An Anthology, Erica Press 1994; where the wind turns: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2009, Red Moon Press 2010.

forsythia
the widow's blinds
part slightly

              heat waves
        a butterfly wing
ascending the anthill     
     

last lilac
the bee's shadow slips
to a lower leaf

manhole steam
two men with briefcases
from the other world

my yellow balloon
sailing over the redwoods
that stood here

a snowshoe hare 
hops through its breath
morning star

Credits:

“forsythia” ― Mariposa 31 Autumn/Winter 2014; but for their voices ed. by Carolyn Hall, Two Autumns Press 2015; Touchstone Poem Award 2014, The Haiku Foundation; earthshine, Snapshot Press 2017; “heat waves” ― Mariposa 30 Spring/Summer 2014; The 2016 Snapshot Haiku Calendar, ed. by John Barlow (2015 May Winner), Snapshot Press; but for their voices ed. by Carolyn Hall, Two Autumns Press 2015; earthshine, Snapshot Press 2017; “last lilac” ― Modern Haiku Vol. XV, No.1 Winter/Spring 1984 (earlier version); “manhole steam” ― Frogpond Vol. 32:2 2009; where the wind turns: The Red Moon Anthology of English Language Haiku 2009; Haiku In English: The First Hundred Years ed. by Jim Kacian et al., W.W. Norton and Co., 2013; but for their voices ed. by Carolyn Hall, Two Autumns Press 2015; earthshine, Snapshot Press 2017; “my yellow balloon” ― Modern Haiku Vol. 49.2 Summer 2018; “a snowshoe hare” ― Modern Haiku Vol. XI, No.3 Autumn 1980; The 2015 Snapshot Haiku Calendar ed. by John Barlow, Snapshot Press; The Snapshot Haiku Calendar Competition 2014, May Winner; but for their voices ed. by Carolyn Hall, Two Autumns Press 2015; earthshine, Snapshot Press 2017.