There are Ron but they are not so hard and fast as one would expect. Haiku's do not have titles and generally speaking do not use capital letters - generally being written in lower case - as they are considered to be gentle verses.
This is probably the best description re punctuation - As you read more and more haiku, you will notice that punctuation choices are often a poet's preference more than a strict rule. So there are various ways of approaching the use and non-use of punctuation.
Punctuation is necessary to clarify, especially if you have a word at the end of the fragment that could, ( but for the sense of the haiku) but should not be attached to the phrase. Here's an example from the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival:
cherry blossoms -
from the homeless man's trumpet,
“Ode to Joy”
If I had not included the dash, as well as reading "from the homeless man's trumpet, 'Ode to Joy'", the haiku could be read as "cherry blossoms from the homeless man's trumpet", which is of course complete nonsense.
Sometimes you might want to include a dash or ellipsis to make the reader pause for a heartbeat or two before moving on.
Simply distributing seventeen syllables in a 5-7-5 pattern over three lines does not necessarily make a haiku, especially a good one. In addition to the syllable pattern, a haiku should have nature as its subject matter, and it should capture one moment in time. A small time capsule if you will. Make every word count. In order to make the most of your seventeen syllables, use nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs that are packed with meaning.
However for the purpose of our homework exercise the only reqirement was to use no more than the max of 17 syllables and I think everyone has achieved that - even those who don't like them. For a homework topic that could have been considered unpopular it is amazing how many have had a go at it
Thank you Ron for having a shot as well
