![Screen capture of" Ñao! [No!]" by Eduardo Kac. Red text composed of dots against a black background.](http://academic.uprm.edu/flores/images/nao.png)

For a translation and complete decoding of the poem read pg 143 in Bohn’s Reading Visual Poetry. It is as thorough and revealing as you may want it to be and you’ll know exactly what it’s saying.But what’s the fun in that? If you’re up to the challenge, try manipulating the text a few ways (reading it out loud, typing it out, and playing with spacing— all in no particular order). As you puzzle over this enigmatic piece, keep in mind a few details about its designed display: this is a text designed to scroll horizontally over time, with spacing designed to only display one word at a time. Do we interpret this as line breaks? Each word contains exactly 9 letters, all represented in capital letters. Why? Was this a constraint in electronic tickers at the time? Or would using a combination of upper and lower case letters provide too much information that Kac didn’t want to reveal?
Most importantly, as you manipulate the text, consider that the display medium is designed to present a text over time for readers to apprehend and retain in memory. If you really want to take on the challenge, try decoding it in your head. Of course, if you don’t know Portugese, this might be too much and you may want to go straight to Bohn’s analysis above.
You’ll appreciate how this early kinetic piece takes a time-based electronic display medium previously used for information and advertising purposes, and subverts its utilitarian customary clarity by writing a poem that goes against the medium’s design.