The Brooks Books Haiku web site is dedicated to writing, publishing and enjoying English-language haiku. It features the work of poets, editors, publishers and organizations who share in this commitment. For more information about Brooks Books see our about us page. See our most recent publication, an online collection of photography and haiku by Anne LB Davidson, Sky In My Teacup. Our conception of haiku?
The publishers of Brooks Books promote a view of haiku as a literary genre. As part of the haikai arts originating in Japan, haiku has its own historical traditions. We reject the view of haiku as a closed poetic form consisting of five-seven-five syllables. Haiku come in a wide variety of forms including one line, visual, three line, two line, four line, free-form and syllabic form. The essential element of form in English-language haiku is that each haiku is a short one-breath poem that usually contains a juxtaposition of images. Each haiku usually has a break—a contemplative pause—which makes it a deliberately incomplete literary artifact, prompting the reader to make a leap of imagination in order to complete the moment begun by the poet. The best haiku capture human perception—moments of being alive conveyed through sensory images. They do not explain nor describe nor provide philosophical or political commentary. Haiku are gifts of the here and now, deliberately incomplete so that the reader can enter into the haiku moment to open the gift and experience the feelings and insights of that moment for his or her self. Randy & Shirley Brooks, Editors & Publishers http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com |
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Online CollectionsBrooks Books publishes free online collections of haiku (with photography or haiga paintings). For a complete listing with links, see our online collections. Please visit our most recent online collection of photography and haiku, Sky In My Teacup by Anne LB Davidson. Enjoy three online collections of photography and haiku by Gretchen Batz and Nanacy Wiley: Narrative Photo Haiku and Seasons of Water. Long Walk Alone is an online collection of haiku by Lee Gurga & photographs by Gretchen Batz. |
BooksBrooks Books publishes clothbound, trade paperback, and small chapbook collections of English language haiku. (see books) Our most recent trade books: Lull Before Dark: Haiku by Caroline Gourlay 2006. (see the web flyer) The Silence Between Us: Selected Haiku of Wally Swist 2005. (see the web flyer) Deep Shade Flickering Sunlight: Selected Haiku of O Mabson Southard 2004. (see web flyer) |
MayflyBrooks Books publishes Mayfly, a chapbook-sized magazine of English language haiku published twice a year. Subscriptions are $8 per year. (see our Mayfly page) Mayfly pays $10 per haiku published and features an original haiga (haiku and sumi-e painting) by Lidia Rozmus on the front cover. |
ReviewsBrooks Books Haiku web site reviews current haiku magazines and books. Many of these books are available for sale in the US from Brooks Books. Emiko Miyashita's New Pond: An English-language Haiku Anthology published by Hokumeisha Press in Tokyo is available from us. |
CatalogThe Brooks Books Catalog makes it easy for you to purchase our books directly on the web with a secure credit card payment through Paypal. Watch for the BUY NOW buttons that connect you to Paypal for online credit card purchases. Many of our titles are also available from Amazon.com if you prefer to purchase them there. Our books are distributed to book stores in Japan by Shokai Tuttle. Write for a print catalog from: Brooks Books |
Haiku TranslationsBrooks Books publishes dual-language editions featuring contemporary Japanese haiku poets: Kiyoko's Sky: The Haiku of Kiyoko Tokutomi by Kiyoku Tokutomi, co-founder of the Yuki-Teikei Haiku Society in California. Translated by Patricia Machmiller and Fay Aoyagi Einstein's Century: Akito Arima's Haiku translated by Emiko Miyashita and Lee Gurga Love Haiku: Masajo Suzuki's Lifetime of Love translated by Emiko Miyashita and Lee Gurga A Hidden Pond: Anthology of Modern Haiku 2nd Edition Edited by Kôko Katô and translated by Kôko Katô & David Burleigh. Published by Kadokawa Shoten Press in Tokyo. Available for purchase in the USA from Brooks Books. |