Shay Buchanan

Global Haiku • Fall 2021
Dr. Randy Brooks

Shay Buchanan

About the author:

Shay is a sophomore at Millikin University aiming for a degree in computer science. She grew up in Orlando, Florida and chose to go to college somewhere less busy for a new experience. This class was her first real dive into writing poetry instead of fiction. Her goal was to harness the same feelings she writes into fiction through the techniques of haiku poetry.

Turn My Gears

by
Shay Buchanan

I feel my strongest haiku evoke memories of the past. As a fiction writer on the side, tying the past into the present has always been a goal of mine. So, the haiku that I feel best accomplish the task of evoking a memory are the haiku I have selected for this collection. Not all of these memories will necessarily be directly mine either.

I write many of my haiku from the mental states of the characters I write. When I feel uninspired, I’ll sometimes find a character of mine is actually feeling quite inspired. There’s always something flying around in one of their heads I can draw from.

see-through glass
wonder covered by
a black drape

same lonely room
weeks upon weeks
turn my gears

cold night air
something more
than reality

now I'm allowed
but far too tired
the mysterious path

medusa's head
on a pike
you were my friend

treating everything
like a gaem
how else can I survive

nothing's changed
the road to home
under construction

memory is so much more
than that picture
stop staring

my only friend
says hello
rough ocean waves

a teddy bear
with no head
my baby

so much care
put into a crown
made of weeds

many pebbles
along the path
may I borrow them?

temporary tattoo
sticks to everything
the spoils of war

accident at the bonfire
burned by
the hotdog’s rebellion

searching
how to regain freedom
Queen’s Gambit