Invocation: an Essay

To be unable to speak, to be shy, to be quiet, to be reticent, is not to be silent, or silenced–not if one listens carefully to the state of reclusion, as carefully as Jennifer S. Cheng does in her beautiful essay, in which she invokes not only the resonance of such a state, but reminds us, too, that the vocation of writing–always–is a call from within. It is a call she has clearly heard. –Mary Ruefle In her concise, precise and beautifully rendered INVOCATION, Cheng’s ‘utterances’ are urgent and even, at times, defiant. She puzzles out existence, investigates silence. The intersection of images and words teases yet insists: you will pay attention, you will comprehend. This voicing of the voiceless is stunningly magical. –Xu Xi