Instructions:

1)  Find a newspaper September 12, 2001 only.
A pair of scissors glue and a few friends.

2)  Cut text from head lines, from small print and even from ads.
     Cut single letters, cut words and cut groups of words.
     Do NOT cut out pictures.

3)  Talk as you cut.  Stop and read if you like.  Save the text in a small box.

4)  All text in the paper is fair game.
As you cut, you may think about the meaning of the words and how you will reorganize them.
As you cut, you may think about what words you will need for construction (a, an, of, or, the, at).
As you cut, you may find words are interesting, left in groups: "golfers left stranded".
As you cut, you may think about how headline writing is different from regular writing.
As you cut, you may think about how this paper is different from any other edition ever published.
As you cut you may, think about what happened or not.
As you cut, talk.

5)  Now assemble the letters, words, and groups of words into nonsense poems, into new headlines, into stories, or into pictures. This part of the exercise can be done alone, if need be or in a group or in a cafe.  A table to spread out the words helps.  The words can be glued onto paper, or arranged 'live' on a photocopier or scanner.  Do NOT sign your name to the work.  Leave it anonymous.  The September 12 Th. paper is a very special paper.  It is the last paper without censorship or suspicion.  People can get into trouble now by what they write.  Staying anonymous is very important in this exercise.  The destruction was anonymous.  So too should the reconstruction be.

6)  What does it all mean?

      Here are just a few thoughts:
        "The assemblages may begin to look like ransom notes.  They are reverse ransom notes in a sense.  Ransom notes usually make a demand for 'something'.  What ever the 'something' is may be hidden in the text of the newspaper."
        "The editing process is backwards.  The editing is done first, with scissors, comes before the writing."
        "What peace of mind we had before the news, can it be reassembled from scraps?  Is there meaning to be found somewhere in the little pieces of paper?  Is there meaning to be found somewhere in the scraps of the buildings and scraps of airplanes and scraps of people in New York and in Washington?  Is there meaning to be found in the scraps of peoples confidence?  We sift through the news."

7)  Here are a few results:
 http://www.primititootaa.com/911/poems/sayspy.html
 http://www.primititootaa.com/911/poems/canada.html
 http://www.primititootaa.com/911/poems/notetous.html

8)  Posted poetry is anonymous, free from censorship and free to use without permission.

email Ed Ackerman

9)  Clean up the mess.

Further study: