Jena Osman wrote this poem not long after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. She was frustrated by the seeming meaninglessness of the statements made by administration officials during press conferences and as quoted in newspaper articles. So she "read the transcripts [of the press conferences, and the newspaper articles], printed them out, ... tore them up, and then I stood on a chair, and then I bombed my office floor with them as if they were leaflets and the leaflets told me what to do." "Dropping Leaflets" is thus a randomly assembled collage poem.
1. read the poem: link to text
2. listen to Osman perform the poem: link to PennSound
3. listen to three poets discuss this poem for 30 minutes: link to PoemTalk
4. watch a 12-minute discussion of this poem: link to video
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