Mandy Thrasher

Global Haiku • Spring 2022
Dr. Randy Brooks

Mandy Thrasher

Mandy Thrasher was born and raised in Clinton, Illinois, a small town surrounded by cow manure and cornfields. A first-generation college student, she attends Millikin University where she studies computational science. She is expected to graduate May 2022. Mandy enjoys spending time with her pets, astronomy, playing VR, and binge watching her latest obsessions. She’s also a bit of a water snob – spring water is multitudes better than purified (obviously) and spends far too much time in Target. This is her first haiku collection.

Searching for Laughter

by
Mandy Thrasher

This collection’s title captures a search for hope (laughter). There is a whirlwind of haiku in this collection, ranging from light, upbeat, and admiring to sad, dark, and distressed. This very much captures the cycles of emotions the author finds herself contending with day to day.

Doing a haiku comparison on any two haiku from this collection would prove interesting. A haiku from her collection capturing the sun’s rays:

                   the sun shines
                   somewhere
                   baking a corpse

Another haiku on the light of the sun from her collection, uplifting and encouraging:

                   you’ll only grow
                   where there’s sunshine
                   go

Some may say her haiku is unpredictable, but most will admire the range of emotions her writing may carry you through. This collection captures her most raw, pure, and genuine emotions in all its forms – the good, the bad, the ugly.

Dedication

This haiku collection is dedicated to my twin sister who passed unexpectedly on December 16, 2021. She knew no stranger and was always with an iced coffee in her hand. She lived with Down Syndrome but make no mistake – no part of it got her down. She embraced all life gave her with a smile and was always ready give out free hugs. I hope to live a life as half as gracefully as she did.

chocolate eyes
my new favorite color
brown

mountain of dishes
that must be cleaned
. . . should I just throw them away?

empty water bottle
you always kept it
filled

dark night lit up by
the snow
i can see you clearly

waves lapping
against the steel boat
bayonets ready

thunder rattles the windowpane
storm guts spill from the sky
lingering hand on the coffin

lost
lost
still lost

snow capped waves
they are but
ants on a boat

a good teacher
is worth a thousand words –—
or a haiku

eyes like a chocolate bar
godly smile
an oasis

moonlight dances
off the ringless finger
brighter than before

woman
lost in the titles
assigned to her

sleeping sun
window reflection
she holds herself hostage

twinkling galaxies
morse code
what are they saying?