When the Winter Chrysanthemums Go

When the Winter Chrysanthemums Go - form Summary

Haiku's Seasonal Pivot

This short haiku hinges on a seasonal image and a terse shift. The winter chrysanthemum evokes an established, poetic season; the abrupt turn to radishes replaces elegiac beauty with homely ordinariness. In haiku form its brevity forces the reader to hold both images together, implying themes of decline, domestic life, and a poet's meager material for verse when the usual subject has passed.