The Art of Reading & Writing Haiku

The Art of Reading and Writing Haiku: A Reader Response Approach features the creative work of Millikin University students both original haiku and their reading responses to haiku. Over the last 20 years I have been gathering and saving some of the best haiku and reading responses for this collection. All of the haiku in this collection have been included because one of my students loved it. This book is organized into chapters that correspond to the progression of the course on Global Haiku Traditions at Millikin University.

The book begins with readings of contemporary haiku from Mayfly magazine. Then I introduce the process of kukai, in which students read anonymous haiku by each other and discuss favorites. Early in the semester we read and discuss the selected haiku of several outstanding contemporary English-language authors including Peggy Lyles, Wally Swist and George Swede. We also read selected haiku by contemporary Japanese author, Masajo Suzuki. The fifth chapter introduces haiku poetics and the matching contest process. There are two chapters on student responses to the variety of voices evident in contemporary haiku anthologies. Chapters 9 and 10 explore Japanese haiku aesthetics and the literary contributions of Matsuo Basho. The book ends with a chapter on collaborative linked verse by my students, final student collections, and reflections about the value of learning the art of reading and writing haiku.

In this book I share my students journey into the haiku community. I invite you to join this journey as a reader of original haiku and reader responses to favorite haiku. I hope the reader responses help spark your own felt imagination of each haiku as you find your haiku eyes . Enjoy the many gifts and blessings the art of reading and writing haiku have to offer you. ~ Dr. Randy Brooks

Dr. Randy Brooks is the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and Professor of English at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. He teaches courses and workshops on haikai poetry traditions including haiku, renga, and tanka. Millikin University has hosted two haiku conferences: the Midwest Haiku Festival in 1992 and the Global Haiku Festival in 2000, which featured numerous guest haiku and tanka poets. The Tanka Society of America was founded on campus during the Global Haiku Festival. Dr. Brooks also teaches book publishing, serving as faculty advisor for the student-run book publishing company, Bronze Man Books, founded in 2006.

He and his wife, Shirley Brooks, are co-editors and publishers of Brooks Books and Mayfly haiku magazine. Randy and Shirley have been dedicated to publishing books, journals, bibliographies, and online collections of haiku in English since 1976 when they founded High/Coo Press. When they moved to Illinois in 1990, Randy & Shirley changed the name of the publishing company to Brooks Books.

Dr. Brooks serves on the Executive Committee of the Haiku Society of America as the Electronic Media Officer. He serves as the webmaster for Modern Haiku Press and Modern Haiku magazine. He is on the editorial board for the annual Red Moon Press haiku anthologies. He also edits the web sampler issues and back issue archives of Frogpond magazine published by the Haiku Society of America. He serves as a member of the editorial team for the journal of haiku criticism, Juxtapositions.

Randy has won many awards for his poetry including 1st Place in the Harold G. Henderson Award from the Haiku Society of America. He and his wife, Shirley Brooks, co-edited The Collected Haiku of Raymond Roseliep which received the 1st Place Merit Book Award from the Haiku Society of America for books published in 2018. In addition to several chapbooks, a collection of his selected haiku, School s Out, was published by Press Here (Foster City, California). He and George Swede were co-editors of the Global Haiku Anthology published by Iron Press (England). Randy and Lee Gurga were co-editors of the Midwest Haiku Anthology published by Brooks Books. He and a team of students and former students were co-editors of the Millikin University Haiku Anthology published by Bronze Man Books.

Dr. Brooks has been actively involved in building various archives of haiku publications and currently serves on the board for the American Haiku Archives in the California State Library in Sacramento. In the 1980s he edited and published four editions of Haiku Review, a bibliography of haiku books in print and current scholarship.