Ezra Pound

 

The apparition of the faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
-  Ezra Pound,
In a purported haiku titled 
“In a Station of the Metro” (in France), 
described to be the first haiku
ever in English, though it does 
not follow the norm strictly 

VERY Ezra Poundish, so to say ! Rebellious in its own way as it militates against the 5-7-5 haiku norm ! Nevertheless, there is enough depth to interpret in these 14 words ! Faces in the crowd have often been the subject of artistic consideration -- of poets, of painters, of photographers, of fiction-writers. Many faces. Many images. Many personae. Many masks -- that conceal more than they reveal. Each crowd -- each gathering of people -- thus has so much to offer, to reflect upon, to think deeply about, to imagine, to superimpose one’s own emotion upon. Ezra Pound uses the word “Apparition” -- a ghost or an imagery -- as he pans his eyes over the crowd .. ! Most faces are dull -- even ‘dead’ in their own ways.

 

Or, may we use another expression: ‘deadpan’ ! In another city, in another country, a young journalist years later wrote about the faces in the crowd: “They moved all together -- emotionless -- frigid -- frozen in eyes -- leathery in the cheeks -- like ghosts who breathed involuntarily ...”! In this poetic little piece, Ezra Pound’s eyes turn to a little plant in a corner -- its petals wet after rain, sticking to the black stem in a scattered manner -- like those faces in the crowd ... in a Station of the Metro. This likening may not suit everybody’s taste or choice. Nevertheless, faces and petals -- deadpan and wet -- numberless and listless on the bough !!! This is how the human mind often wanders -- from here to there, here-and-there -- with no focus, no direction. Strange comparisons appear and disappear.

 

Where is the logic -- one may ask. As the poetic expression unfolds in the mind, the question of logic does not actually arise. For, when the mind wanders and perches on anything that it finds -- in similarity or in contrast -- everything appeals to logic or illogic. Of course, Ezra Pound’s “apparition of the faces in the crowd” runs parallel to “petals on a wet, black bough” -- giving us enough trigger to think deeper. Strange similes and metaphors, these !