Poet Profile

Randy Brooks

Dr. Randy M. Brooks, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and Professor of English at Millikin University, received his Ph.D. from Purdue University with a concentration in rhetoric and professional writing. He also earned a Master’s degree in American literature and linguistics at Purdue. His areas of academic research include professional writing curriculum, rhetorical theory, web publishing, book publishing, and Japanese poetry. From 1990 until 2008, he was the director of the English Writing Major. He is a proponent of active learning and encourages all Millikin students to perform their knowledge in public arenas in order to make a contribution beyond themselves. He was a founding board member and co-advisor to the Millikin University student book publishing company, Bronze Man Books. Every year since 1999, he has taught two undergraduate courses on haiku at Millikin: (1) a weekly workshop on writing haiku, and (2) an advanced studies in poetry course on the global haiku tradition. Student writing and sample research essays about contemporary haiku authors from these courses are available on the MU Haiku web site. In 2008 students and alumni joined Dr. Brooks in the editing a collection of student haiku and senryu resulting in a collection titled the Millikin University Haiku Anthology, published by Bronze Man Books. He and his wife, Shirley Brooks, are co-editors and publishers of Brooks Books, (formerly High/Coo Press) and edit Mayfly, a biannual magazine featuring one haiku per page. Randy and Shirley Brooks have been dedicated to publishing books, magazines and hypertext collections of haiku in English since 1976 when they founded High/Coo Press. They have edited, designed, and published over 120 haiku collections in clothbound, paperback, chapbook and online editions. See the Brooks Books web site for more details. He has served as the Midwest Coordinator for the Haiku Society of America and currently serves on the Executive Committee as Electronic Media Officer, editing the Frogpond web sampler and maintaining the Society web site. He has served on the Red Moon Anthology editorial team from 2005 to the present. He is also web editor for Modern Haiku magazine. He serves as the web editor for the American Haiku Archives web site. In 1992, Dr. Brooks hosted the Midwest Haiku Festival at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. In April 2000, he and Dr. Lee Gurga organized a gathering of haiku poets, editors, and scholars at the Global Haiku Festival hosted by Millikin University, the Sister Cities Program, and the Haiku Society of America. For more information about Dr. Randy Brooks see: http://faculty.millikin.edu/~rbrooks. For more information about Brooks Books see the web site at: http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com. Also see the Millikin University Haiku web site at: http://www.millikin.edu/haiku.

Awards and Other Honors: Most Valuable Program (Runner Up) from VOYA, (Voice of Youth Advocates) magazine for haiku workshops at Centennial High School (Champaign, Illinois, 2008); Merit Award, 15th Ito En “Oh-I, Ocha” New Haiku Contest (2004); Special Mention Award, Valentine Haiku Awards, The Heron’s Nest: A Haikai Journal (2004); Editors’ Choice, Heron’s Nest Award, The Heron’s Nest: A Haikai Journal V:1 (2003); Third Place, the Haiku Society of America's Merit Book Awards for the Best Haiku Books published in 1999 [for School’s Out: Selected Haiku of Randy Brooks (1999)]; Third Place, Penumbra Poetry & Haiku Competition (Tallahassee Writer’s Association, 1999); First Place, The Virgil Hutton Haiku Memorial Chapbook Competition (1999); Runner-up, Snapshots Haiku Collection Competition (Snapshots Haiku Magazine, 1998); First Place, Harold G. Henderson Award (The Haiku Society of America, 1998); Best of Issue Award, Modern Haiku 29:2 (1998); Matsuyama Tourism Haiku Award (sponsored by the Shiki Haiku Museum and the city of Matsuyama, 1997); Second Place, The Haiku Society of America's Merit Book Awards for the Best Haiku Books published in 1992 [for the Midwest Haiku Anthology]; Mainichi Haiku Competition Award, Mainichi Daily News (Tokyo, 1997); Honorable Mention, Japan Airlines Haiku Competition (January 1988); Bonsai Quarterly Award, Bonsai Quarterly (January 1977); Editor’s Personal Favorite Award, Modern Haiku (February 1977).

Books Published: Collections of Haiku: School’s Out: Selected Haiku of Randy Brooks (Press Here: Foster City, California, 1999); Crows Talking Crow [broadside] (Press Here: Foster City, California, 1999); The Homestead Cedars (Saki Press: Normal, Illinois, 1999); In Her Blue Eyes: Jessica Poems (Brooks Books: Decatur, Illinois, 1998); Black Ant's Journey to Japan: A Modern Tanka Journal [online book] (AHA Online Books: Gualala, California, 1998); Me Too! (High/Coo Press: Battle Ground, Indiana, 1985); The Last Quarter Mile (Grey Whale Press: Florence, Oregon, 1981); Barbwire Holds Its Ground (High/Coo Press: Battle Ground, Indiana, 1981); The Rosebud Bursts (High/Coo Press: Battle Ground, Indiana, 1979); Where Will Mockingbird Nest? (Juniper Press: LaCrosse, Wisconsin, 1977); Haiku Anthologies Edited or Co-edited: Editorial Board, Red Moon Anthology (Red Moon Press: Winchester, VA, 2005-present); Co-editor with Emily Evans, Rick Bearce, Melanie McLay: Millikin University Haiku Anthology (Bronze Man Books: Decatur, Illinois, 2008); Co-editor with George Swede: Global Haiku: 25 Poets World-wide (Iron Press: England, 2000); Co-editor with Lee Gurga: A Solitary Leaf: Haiku Society of America Member Anthology 1996 (the Haiku Society of America, 1997); Co-editor with Lee Gurga, Barbara Ressler, and Harvey Hess: Fallen Snow: Haiku for Winter (Eight Pound Tiger Press: Cedar Falls, Iowa, 1996); Co-Editor with Lee Gurga: Midwest Haiku Anthology (High/Coo Press: Decatur, IL, 1992).

tai chi
with my wife . . .
morning glories open

two lines in the water . . .
not a word between
father and son

last day of school . . .
the crack of a baseball bat
through an open window

razor wire
soldiers in the alley
tossing dice

school’s out—
a boy follows his dog
into the woods

funeral procession . . .
snowflakes blowing
into the headlights

Credits: "tai chi" - The Heron’s Nest: A Haikai Journal V:1 (2003); "last day of school" - Baseball Haiku: The Best Haiku Ever Written About the Game (edited by Cor van den Heuvel, W.W. Norton & Company: New York, NY, 2007); " school’s out" Brussels Sprout (1988); "two lines in the water" - Modern Haiku 29:2 (1998); "razor wire" - White Lies: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2008 (Red Moon Press: Winchester, VA 2009); "funeral procession" - School’s Out: Selected Haiku of Randy Brooks (Press Here: Foster City, CA, 1999).