pulling radishes
I couldn’t bear to thin–just
one perfect red globe
Miriam's Well: Poetry, Land Art, and Beyond
Santa Fe Literary Scene, Poetry, Land Art, New Mexico
pulling radishes
I couldn’t bear to thin–just
one perfect red globe
Miriam's Well: Poetry, Land Art, and Beyond 
Excellent…worthy of a Japanese haiku master!
Thank you–a kind comparison!
Fun allusion to Issa’s various famous radish haikai verses e.g.
1803
.我庵の冬は来りけり痩大根
waga io no fuyu wa kitari keri yase daikon
winter arrives
at my hut…
a scrawny radish
The radish is appropriately emaciated (yase), reflecting Issa’s typical self-portraiture.
Maxene Alexander writes, “What I like about this one is … it shows how haiku may include mankind as part of nature – an obvious reflection of Issa’s current situation, reflected by a scrawny radish.”
Enjoy the other verses by Issa plus translations by David Lanoue:
http://haikuguy.com/issa/search.php?keywords=radish&year=
Alan, thank you for the erudite addition. I guess my situation compared to Issa is both fat and scrawny and no doubt I left too much to nature to truly be a gardener. The radish was quite tasty though!