Grotto Heaven

Poetry. "In this book, Jonathan Stalling extends to us his hospitality. Enter this grotto, this book of poems a haven & lodge for light & dark, made by Jonathan Stalling with an ethics of respect & reverence. Pen opens to penumbra, shadowing each word. This book constitutes an attentive reaching, reading, a leaning into language, so that learning an other language rhymes with listening to & learning the emerging language-scape of one's own child. In Stalling's book we are lodged here, in poems, in a place allowing passage back & forth from the mystery of 'I' and 'we' to the mysterious housings of words in our language and in others. Words, characters, & embodiments make up the constellations, the figured stars within a larger darkness. I recommend to you GROTTO HEAVEN as a fine place to take up lodging"

Jonathan Stalling (Chinese: 石江山，思道林; born June 24, 1975) is an American poet, scholar, editor, translator, professor, and inventor who works at the intersection of English and Chinese. He is the Harold J & Ruth Newman Chair for US-China Issues and co-director of the Institute for US-China Issues, and is Professor of International and Area Studies at the University of Oklahoma.