My language was born among treesit holds the taste of earthmy ancestors tongue is my home.from amp8220The Old Song of the Bloodamp8221A legacy of land and language courses through the pages of this spirited bilingual edition offering an expansive take on the internationally renowned work of Humberto Akamp8217abal a Kamp8217icheamp8217 Maya poet born in the western highlands of Guatemala.Featuring both Akamp8217abalamp8217s Spanish translations from the indigenous Kamp8217icheamp8217 and English translations by acclaimed poet Michael Bazzett this collection blossoms from the landscape of Momostenangoamp8212mountains covered in cloud forest deep ravines terraced fields of maize. Akamp8217abalamp8217s unpretentious verse models a contraconquistaamp8212counterconquestamp8212perspective one that resists the impulse to impose meaning on the world and encourages us to receive it instead. amp8220In churchamp8221 he writes amp8220the only prayer you hear comes from the trees they turned into pews.amp8221 Every living thing has its song these poems suggest. We need only listen for it.Attuned uncompromising Akamp8217abal teaches readers to recognize grace in every earthly observationamp8212in the wind carrying a forgotten name. In the roots whose floral messengers amp8220tell us what earth is like on the inside.amp8221 Even in the birds who amp8220sing in midflight and shit while flying.amp8221 At turns playful and pointed this prescient entry in the Seedbank series is a transcendent celebration of both Kamp8217icheamp8217 indigeneity and Akamp8217abalamp8217s lifetime of work.