Cameron Brooks

Poet & Essayist

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About the Author

👋🏻 Howdy. My name is Cameron. I'm a writer with roots in South Dakota. I enjoy a good espresso, Blackwing pencils, and bebop jazz. Here’s the full bio:

Cameron Brooks is a poet and essayist from South Dakota. He holds degrees from the University of Sioux Falls (B.A.), Princeton Theological Seminary (M.A.) and Seattle Pacific University (M.F.A.). His work is found in several journals and anthologies, including Poetry East, Cumberland River Review, Third Wednesday, North Dakota Quarterly, Ad Fontes, New Verse Review, and elsewhere. His poem “White Space” won the South Dakota State Poetry Society annual contest.

Cameron lives in Sioux Falls with his wife and son.

A headshot of Cameron in a yellow shirt
Contact Cameron
A circular green and gold abstract painting

Vanora

Vanora is a creative collaboration project that I co-founded with a friend who’s an abstract painter. We pair our art forms and explore broad themes through our work.

Select Publications & Readings

Where you can find my words

  • Public Reading, Full Circle Book Co-op, Sioux Falls, SD, May 16, 2024

  • Open Mic, Full Circle Book Co-op, Sioux Falls, SD, November 26, 2022

  • Public Reading, Seattle Pacific University, August 9, 2022

  • Creative Writing Class, Lecture & Reading, University of Sioux Falls, November 15, 2021.

  • English Class, Talk & Reading, St. John Middle School, Seward, NE, Fall 2021.

  • John R. Milton Writer’s Conference, University of South Dakota, September 16-18, 2021.

Poem: Winner of the South Dakota State Poetry Society 2023 Annual Contest


White Space

Awake to snow-freighted pines,
blue snow upon the pasture

where five shining horses graze
with snow in their manes. They

know grass has begun to grow
beneath the snow, having tasted

it only yesterday. A bruised bouquet
of dried chili peppers dangles

from the doorframe of my cabin
like a frozen claw. Crescent moons

of snow slouch in the nose slits
and eye sockets of a deer skull

pegged to a post, its antlers
and remaining teeth so dull

against unadulterated drifts
of snow, not white, not ivory,

just bone, the hollow color of bone.

My Top Jazz Playlist

Contact Cameron

Send me your inquiries, comments, brilliant ideas. I’d be happy to hear from you. Hit the button to start an email.

© 2024 Cameron Brooks

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