Tristan Tzara Quote

To make a Dadaist Poem (1920)

Take a newspaper.
Take some scissors.
Choose from this paper an article the length you want to make your poem.
Cut out the article.
Next carefully cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them all in a bag.
Shake gently.
Next take out each cutting one after the other.
Copy conscientiously in the order in which they left the bag.
The poem will resemble you.
And there you are—an infinitely original author of charming sensibility, even though unappreciated by the vulgar herd.

Tzara's poem from 1920; As quoted in: Cambridge Introduction to Modernism, ed. Pericles Lewis (Cambridge UP, 2007), p. 107

To Make a Dadaist Poem - Modernism Lab Essays