Saad Na'ach'aah (The Art of Words)

Author: Orlando White

Publisher: Sputnik & Fizzle (2024)

”A poet is a maker, and, in The Art of Words, Orlando White, Diné of the Naaneesht’ézhi Tábaahí and born from the Naakai Diné’e, delves into the spaces inside words and activates a Diné cosmology out of the tiniest spaces; so the space in a glottal stop lifts into air and forms an electron cloud; the Diné word for water emerges out of the syllabic space inside the English word, water; and balance and imbalance, hózh= and hóchx-’, pivot around the invisible north star of an o. This is a stunning book that irrevocably changes our experience of language and makes us see the world with fresh eyes.”

—Arthur Sze