What is Black and White and Read All Over?
By Marjorie Welish

This essay was written for a "in-conference" section of the journal How2. Kathleen Fraser asked three panelists, Marjorie Welish, Carla Harryman, and Fanny Howe to write around the theme of Resisting Type: the practice of double identity. Fraser writes: "This panel was conceived from purely selfish motives.  As a practicing poet for many years, I’ve turned, at different times in my life, to the pursuit of painting, lithography and collage when the language of poetry and its alluring propositions of organization have seemed unavailable or no longer adequate.  This errant shift away from the more familiar terrain of written language forms has afforded me—with each departure—that double-edged event of entering into the sheer physicality of the visual world, as well as coming up against its formally-constructed givens." To read the entire panel, visit the How2 website.