Karla Elling  is the proprietor of Mummy Mountain Press & Paper Mill in Paradise Valley, Arizona. She is a letterpress printer and papermaker, specializing in desert fibers like Hesperaloe funifera, an agave. For thirty years she has printed the work of contemporary poets and writers, including several United States Poets Laureate.  At the 1989 Taos Writers Conference on the Natural World I was asked by conference director and international poet Christopher Merrill to contribute a broadside of "Paper" to celebrate Merwin's keynote address and poetry reading. Printed letterpress on Japanese kozo—white ink on white paper, signature in black—this poem was meant to hang in a window, Merwin's words shining in the changing light. Of all the poems I have printed in thirty years, this one is a favorite. The broadside is reprinted here with W. S. Merwin's kind permission.

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