{"title":"Simon Ortiz","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"after-and-before-the-lightning-book-simon-j-ortiz-9780816514489","title":"After and Before the Lightning","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eHighway 18 between Mission and Okreek, South Dakota,\u003c\/b\u003e is a stretch of no more than eighteen miles, but late at night or in a blizzard it seems endless. \"It feels like being somewhere between South Dakota and 'there,'\" says Simon Ortiz, \"perhaps at the farthest reaches of the galaxy.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Acoma Pueblo poet Ortiz spent a winter in South Dakota, teaching at Sinte Gleska College on the Rosebud Lakota Sioux Reservation. The bitter cold and driving snow of a prairie winter were a reality commanding his attention through its absolute challenge to survival and the meaning of survival.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Ortiz's way of dealing with the hard elements of winter was to write \u003ci\u003eAfter and Before the Lightning\u003c\/i\u003e, prose and verse poems that were his response to that long season between the thunderstorms of autumn and spring. \"I needed a map of where I was and what I was doing in the cosmos,\" he writes. In these poems, which he regards as a book-length poetic work, he charts the vast spaces of prairie and time that often seem indistinguishable. As he faces the reality of winter on the South Dakota reservation, he also confronts the harsh political reality for its Native community and culture and for Indian people everywhere.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Writing this poetry reconnected me to the wonder and awe of life,\" Ortiz states emphatically. Readers will feel the reality of that wonder and awe--and the cold of that South Dakota winter--through the gentle ferocity of his words.\u003c\/div\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50124450693393,"sku":"CIN0816514488G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53076718747921,"sku":"CIN0816514488VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0816514488.jpg?v=1754893598"},{"product_id":"good-rainbow-road-book-simon-j-ortiz-9780816523405","title":"The Good Rainbow Road","description":"This is the story of two courageous boys and of how they saved their village. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Their village is called Haapaahnitse, Oak Place, and it lies at the foot of a mountain. Once there was a lake and a stream nearby, but they have dried up. Once rain and snow came, but no more. Not only did the crops wither and die, even the hardy oak trees have become brittle sticks. The land has become barren and dry. \u003cp\u003eTwo brothers, Tsaiyah-dzehshi, whose name means First One, and Hamahshu-dzehshi, Next One, are chosen for an important mission. They are sent on a westward trek to the home of the Shiwana, the Rain and Snow Spirits, to ask them to bring the gift of water to the village again. The brothers cross deserts and mountains on an arduous journey until they are finally stopped short by a treacherous canyon filled with molten lava. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Good Rainbow Road\u003c\/i\u003e tells how the brothers overcome this last challenge and continue on to their destination. Written in the tradition of Native American oral storytelling and accompanied by colorful illustrations from celebrated Native artist Michael Lacapa, it brings the powers of language, memory, and imagery to a tale that will captivate children ages seven and up. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs Simon Ortiz writes, \u003ci\u003eThe Good Rainbow Road\u003c\/i\u003e is located in the Native American world, but it is not limited to that world. Even considering humankind's many ethnic and racial differences, we are all part of each other as people and the rest of all Creation, and our stories join us together. This is the foundation of \u003ci\u003eThe Good Rainbow Road\u003c\/i\u003e, and on that road young readers will broaden their understanding of humanity's common bonds. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Good Rainbow Road\u003c\/i\u003e is presented in Keres, the language of Acoma Pueblo and six other Pueblo communities in New Mexico, and in English, with an additional Spanish translation in the back of the book.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50295641243921,"sku":"CIN0816523401G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52383668175121,"sku":"CIN0816523401VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0816523401.jpg?v=1751139015"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-simon-ortiz.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}