"Kudos to those who strive, for whatever reason, to make english haiku as close to the japanese version as possible. It's an interesting challenge, though somewhat futile at the end of the day - so lets just all have some fun" I couldn't agree more. I find most fixed poetic forms to be quite difficult. In rereading my post I realize that in my pedantic tone I may have seemed as though I was condemning poetry that doesn't conform. That's not it at all - I was merely defining it, just as I would give the definition of a villanelle or sonnet. It sort of reminds me of how ignorant I am of textile arts. I can barely tell the difference between crochet and knitting. It's as if I walked up to a friend and said, "Wow, what a great job you did knitting that sweater" and my friend replied, "Thank you. It's actually crochet and here's how you can tell."
