Dreary, Flat, UnJapanese

A haiku printed out in English lines

Contains the English “I” two separate times,

At starts of verses*.  “I” itself defines

Why this is not for haiku.  Greatest crimes

Of haiku and of Japanese milieu

Are letting “I” occur in poetry

And culture.  Anything completely true

In these two realms omits the “I” and “me.”

Perhaps the publisher in Tokyo

First chose to edit “I”s out, then

Was forced to put them in.  An English foe

Of Nipponental thought forced printer’s pen.

  Then worst of all, the “I”s were printed at

    The start of lines, making haiku go splat.

* Here the word “verses” is used in its correct meaning, not to mean stanzas.