Jacob Korg wrote:

> The punctuation of In a Station of the Metro is only half the story. As it
> first appeared in Poetry in 1913, there were significant spaces between
> the words. I don't have it with me, but it looked something like this:
>
>                         The apparition    of these faces    in the crowd
>                         Petals    on a wet,  black   bough.
> As far as I know, the poem has never been reprinted that way.
>
>                                         J, Korg

This printing of "Metro" long puzzled me.  It seemed to indicate something
rhythmical, but I could make no case for it.  But I think this is not what EP was
after;  instead, I think the effect is one of phanopoeia.  When the eye sees the
bough, it does not see wetness plus blackness;  it sees "wetblack."  Does this
seem reasonable?
                            Stephen Adams
                            University of Western Ontario