A Song of Flowers: Ni Xochitl, Ni Kuikatl

An ode to nature, poetry and design, this sumptuously produced book illuminates an understudied language and its poetic traditions

In Nahuatl, a language spoken in present-day central Mexico since the 7th century, poetry is designated by a pair of metaphors, in xochitl in cuicatl: "the flower, the song." This term defines poetry as "an elevation, an outpouring that is expressed." Poems are a bouquet of words and associations to be sung to the sky. A confluence between an art book and a book ...