Tuesday, 22 March 2011

How to make a Dadaist Poem (method of Tristan Tzara)

To make a Dadaist poem:

  • Take a newspaper.
  • Take a pair of scissors.
  • Choose an article as long as you are planning to make your poem.
  • Cut out the article.
  • Then cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them in a bag.
  • Shake it gently.
  • Then take out the scraps one after the other in the order in which they left the bag.
  • Copy conscientiously.
  • The poem will be like you.
  • And here you are a writer, infinitely original and endowed with a sensibility that is charming though beyond the understanding of the vulgar.

        -Tristan Tzara