Newspaper-like flowing columns?

[Mark Summerfield]

Is it possible to have newspaper-like flowing columns in lout?

+----page 1 ----+
|item 1 | item 2|
|item 1 | item 2|
|item 3 | item 2|
|item 3 | item 4|
+---------------+

+----page 2 ----+
|item 5 | item 2|
|item 5 | item 2|
|item 5 | item 4|
|item 1 | item 4|
+---------------+

Would it be possible to create a package like doc or book that did
this? 

It seems to me that each page could be a table, which lout handles
without a problem. But somehow you have to be able to "connect up" a
cell in a table to a cell in another table (and possibly a third or
even fourth, but no more than that) so that the text could flow
between them. 

Thanks.

-- 
Mark.