HIGH/COO Chapbooks
Annual Competition

In 2023 Brooks Books launched a new annual High/Coo Chapbooks competition. Each year we invite submissions of chapbook manuscripts by April 1. Three of the best submissions will be published in our new subscription series of High/Coo Chapbooks.

Why do we want to publish these under the “High/Coo Chapbooks” imprint? This new imprint honors our initial venture into publishing, which was a small press magazine: High/Coo: A Quarterly of Short Verse. “High/Coo” is an Americanized version of the Japanese term, both in appearance and conception, which is a recognition that we are promoting a contemporary English literary art.
 
“High/Coo” contains within it several key assumptions about our approach to haiku poetics. With “high” we embrace a poetry seeking to celebrate being alive — the emotions, feelings, perceptions, and enthusiastic realizations that come from being present to the gifts, mysteries, surprises, and insights available in our everyday lives. These are high moments of consciousness. Highlights of being alive. We love poetry that comes from deep contemplation, discovered insight and heartfelt feeling.
 
The “coo” refers to our responses to these high moments of being alive. As poets, we give voice to our responses. We playfully experiment with the “coo” that naturally springs out of these moments of being alive — giving voice to various states of high awareness. Our “coos” often understate or suggest the significance of what is left unsaid. Playful language hints at a state of consciousness. We like playful language!
 
And finally, there is the “/“ between “high” and “coo”. This represents the haiku cut, an essential silence that invites the reader into the space of the poem’s consciousness, language, and images. It is the pause that comes at various points in haiku, senryu, and tanka. A contemplative breath in the middle of things. A door that opens to invite the reader inside to a world of imaginative play.
 
Put these all together, and you get “High/Coo!”

Randy & Shirley Brooks

2023 HIGH/COO Chapbook
Competition Winners

Brooks Books is pleased to announce the three winners of the 2023 High/Coo Chapbook Competition. We loved the range of topics and quality of the haiku evident in these collections.

This inaugural year we had 26 entries in the chapbook competition. The large majority of these are worthy of publication, so it was very difficult deciding on just three awards. We are grateful for all of the authors who prepared and submitted such high-quality chapbook manuscripts.

The three collections and award-winning authors (in no particular order) are:

One Note Moon
by
Ben Gaa

Walking Away from the Sunset
by
Julie Schwerin

Learning to See
by
Edward J. Rielly

Haiku lovers may purchase a subscription to the 2023 HIGH/COO Chapbooks at any time during 2023. A subscription is $30 per year which includes a copy of all three chapbooks. International subscriptions are for PDF copies only.

Purchase of individual chapbooks are available on the Brooks Books web site after the official publication date. We anticipate a publication date and book release in May.

2023 HIGH/COO Chapbooks PDF Edition Bundle

International High/Coo Chapbooks subcribers will receive PDF editions instead of print editions. There is no postage charge for this PDF subscription, so annual subscription is $30 USD.

2023 HIGH/COO Chapbooks Print Edition Bundle

Annual High/Coo Chapbooks Subscription is $30 for all three 2023 chapbooks plus $5 postage and handling.

If you live in the United States you may purchase your chapbooks bundle as a secure transaction with your credit card through paypal.com:

One Note Moon
by
Ben Gaa

ISBN 978-1-929820-28-3 • perfectbound
May 2023, 52 pages (4" X 6") • $15.00 US

adrift in your sea
my three octopus
hearts

~ ~ ~

pulled from the cello
a one note
moon

For more information, see the web page flyer

Walking Away from the Sunset
by
Julie Schwerin

ISBN 978-1-929820-27-6 • perfectbound
May 2023, 80 pages (4" X 6") • $15.00 US

warm summer evening
enough swifts to swirl
a van Gogh sky

~ ~ ~

   sunrise —
learning again to color
     outside the lines

For more information, see the web page flyer

Learning to See
by
Edward J. Rielly

ISBN 978-1-929820-29-0 • perfectbound
May 2023, 68 pages (4" X 6") • $15.00 US

scrabble . . .
my words and yours
joining

~ ~ ~

white clouds drifting —
the long drive back
to where we came from

For more information, see the web page flyer

Guidelines for 2023 HIGH/COO Chapbook Submissions:

Submissions to the 2023 competition closed April 1, 2023.

1 - There is no entry fee, but you must be a subscriber to the High/Coo Chapbooks series to enter the competition. Subscription is $30 per year which includes a copy of all three chapbooks published that year. International subscribers will receive PDF editions of the chapbooks.

The chapbooks will be sold separately for $15 per copy, so a subscriber gets a significant discount receiving (3 chapbooks for $30 instead of $45). You do not have to submit a chapbook manuscript to be a subscriber to the High/Coo Chapbooks series.

You may submit one chapbook manuscript per year.
 
2 - Chapbook manuscripts will be submitted by email to brooksbooks@gmail.com and include the following requirements:
 
     • a book title
     • a short biography of the author (500-1000 words)
     • 30 - 50 haiku, senryu, or tanka (no haibun, no linked verse, no other genres)
     • acknowledgments for previous publication of any poem submitted
     • author’s name, address, email address & publication name preference
     • SUBJECT LINE: HIGHCOO Chapbook Submission

     optional, but not required:

     • a short introduction about your collection
     • a short introduction to your own art of writing haiku (where do your haiku come from?)
     • you may submit your chapbook by mail but include an email address for response (no returns)
 
3 - There will be three chapbooks published each year. Winning authors will receive 10 copies of their collection and $100. They also will get a 50% discount on additional author copies as needed.
 
4 - Deadline for submission is April 1 of each year. No fooling! Winning chapbooks will be announced by May 1 and published later that same year.

Randy & Shirley Brooks
6 Madera Court
Taylorville, IL 62568

brooksbooks@gmail.com