There's lots to gain from following the way Pound developed the supposedly
instantaneous image in "In a Station of the Metro"--it was not the result
of a sudden flash of inspiration, but the careful result of many months
and many drafts, much pruning and selecting, which makes the incoherence
of the image even more fascinating. It's possible to follow the whole
process in one sitting via the ever-invaluable Poetry and Prose (See pp.
147, 279, and 281 in Vol. I).

It's also worth looking at Pound's poem "Laudantes Decem Pulchritudinis
Johannae Temple," from Exultations (1909).  In this poem, Pound also uses
the image of petals as faces.

So much for first intensities!

Jonathan Gill
Columbia University