This Page is an Occupied Territory

Adeena Karsick & Warren Lehrer

A Multimedia Collaboaration

Introduction to the First Digital Edition

Written by acclaimed poet, performer, cultural critic Adeena Karasick, and visualized by author, designer, vis lit pioneer Warren Lehrer, This Page is an Occupied Territory was composed in reaction to the occupation, war, slaughter in Gaza/Israel, and approaches the medium of language and the page itself as an occupied territory. This Page investigates possession of a region by force and control of a location through blockades, barricades and barriers.

In much the same light, translation can be seen as a form of “occupation,” whereby one language layered onto the body of another can sometimes be an act of war. The word “war,” as both an English noun and a verb meaning “conflict,” and a German adjective [wàhr] meaning what’s “true, real, genuine,” literally places “war” at war with itself. To word “wà[h]r” not only “occupies” the homography between the ear and the eye; the babelism at play between speech and writing—but the notion of “occupation” points to how what’s “true” is always in conflict.

Karasick first presented a live performance of This Page is an Occupied Territory in February, 2024 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, in New York, NY. Later, she sent the text to Lehrer, whom she had collaborated with on the post-pandemic book Ouvert Oeuvre: Openings (Lavender Ink, 2023). Almost immediately, the title and text of Karasick’s Occupation poem suggested a visual setting for Warner, which could involve letterpress printing elements used as blockades, barricades, and border crossings. Lehrer worked with artist/printer Roni Gross, who made prints of various wood and metal characters, blocks, dingbats, and borders on letterpress proofing presses at the Center for Books in New York City, as well as at the Center for Editions at SUNY Purchase. Lehrer then made scans of the prints and visualized the poem digitally.

As the poem progresses, its “occupied pages” become more and more boxed in, askew, and rubbled to pieces. Israel’s destruction of Gaza is called forth symbolically and visually literally. The resulting typographic landscapes combine text and image as one entity. The visualization of This Page was inspired in part by the experimental typographer and partisan H.N. Werkman, whose anti-Nazi publishing house led to his execution. This book becomes a tribute to him and the countless anti-tyranny / anti-fascist citizens whose critique of human violence, war and destruction has come at great cost.

A version of this piece was printed as a tabloid-sized publication speaking to ways the ever-expanding war and daily bombardment of devastating news felt so outsized and overwhelming, in your face and hard to “handle.” The first edition of 700 copies was printed at the Newspaper Club in Glasgow, Scotland. Karasick continues to perform This Page solo and sometimes with Lehrer projecting his treatment of the text. Selections have been published in Alligatorzine, ed. Kurt Devrese (Oct. 2024); Explorations in Media Ecology, ed. Peggy Cassidy (NY, NY, July 2025); translated into Italian by Claudio Beddochio for performance and publication, as part of “Stato di Agitazione Poetico, “Polveriera Press, Reggio Emilia (July, 2025); The Dreaming Machine, ed. Pina Piccolo (Fall 2025). It was the winner of the 2025 Print (Magazine) Award for “Entire Book Design”; winner of the 2025 Society of Typographic Arts for typographic design; winner of the 2025 Muse Creative Gold Award for Book/Publication Design; winner of “Best of the Season” by Newspaper Clubs in August, 2025 and showcased at LaMama Theater in New York; and featured in the film, “Poetry + Music,” directed by H. Paul Moon, as part of Bowery Arts Music and Poetry Film Series, 2026.