The Haiku Foundation Forums

This is rather old news, but I just noticed this section of the forum.  Last year I won a Sakura award for the United States in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational.  Rebecca Drouilhet

This past week during a second reading of Patricia Donegan's book, Chiyo-Ni: Woman Haiku Master, I noticed that Patricia commented on the social work that haiku did during Chiyo-Ni's age.  Haiku could function as a social tool for greeting one another, for use in diplomatic relations and as gaming, fun and entertainment.  I compose haiku for special occaisons such as weddings, births, special days and so on.  One poet I know recently mentioned that after she was approached by an acquaintance who wanted more of her poetry, she composed poems for the woman to meet her needs.  My question for discussion is do you think haiku has pragmatic functions or work to do as it interfaces with society?  I am also curious about whether or not poets use haiku in their community/family settings to commemorate special events or occaisons.