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distant water: poems
A remarkable debut poetry collection exploring the way Nez Perce language embodies the inseparable connection between land, sound, and spirit.
As a scholar of Native American literature and law, Beth Piatote focuses on the endangerment of Indigenous languages. As an activist, she moves against the current of English-language colonization, working to rescue and revitalize the language of her people. Language, she posits, is an expression of land, a means through which we can travel great distances.
distant water brings the reader into the language of our shared home, North America, revealing a sonic world and grammar governed by rivers, kinship, and ancestral knowledge. “In our homes and homelands,” she writes, “we share the language with the plants and animals and waters and rocks and sky.” Inventive and playful, these poems explore the sounds, structure, and wisdom of the Nez Perce language, illuminating its vitality and capacity to organize relationships to time and place. Braiding aural, linguistic, and spiritual ecologies, distant water conveys an understanding that to be in language is to be in place. To be at home.
As a scholar of Native American literature and law, Beth Piatote focuses on the endangerment of Indigenous languages. As an activist, she moves against the current of English-language colonization, working to rescue and revitalize the language of her people. Language, she posits, is an expression of land, a means through which we can travel great distances.
distant water brings the reader into the language of our shared home, North America, revealing a sonic world and grammar governed by rivers, kinship, and ancestral knowledge. “In our homes and homelands,” she writes, “we share the language with the plants and animals and waters and rocks and sky.” Inventive and playful, these poems explore the sounds, structure, and wisdom of the Nez Perce language, illuminating its vitality and capacity to organize relationships to time and place. Braiding aural, linguistic, and spiritual ecologies, distant water conveys an understanding that to be in language is to be in place. To be at home.
- GenresPoetry
96 pages, Paperback
Published May 12, 2026
About the author
Beth Piatote
5 books39 followersBeth Piatote is a Ni:mi:pu: (Nez Perce) scholar and author. She is a member of Chief Joseph’s Tribe and the Colville Confederated Tribes.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 8, 2026
Sealey Challenge 2026: 28/31
August 20, 2026
Truly remarkable. The language exploration, the building of language. Life and justice. Love.
Beth Piatote, a Nez Perce is a scholar and writer and poet. This is a great find. I treasure it
This title:
“I cause my heart to pour out is how to say remember”
Pin’i
In “praise the deer” a footnote—
I•sqel (particle) an interjection expressing a feeling of longing: oh (I wish)
How much force did it take
to beat the language
out of the body
of a child
About Ghost poem
Translating my poem into English was difficult because it is nearly impossible to capture the elegance of Nez Perce verbs, which not only describe but perform motion:
Beth Piatote, a Nez Perce is a scholar and writer and poet. This is a great find. I treasure it
This title:
“I cause my heart to pour out is how to say remember”
Pin’i
In “praise the deer” a footnote—
I•sqel (particle) an interjection expressing a feeling of longing: oh (I wish)
How much force did it take
to beat the language
out of the body
of a child
About Ghost poem
Translating my poem into English was difficult because it is nearly impossible to capture the elegance of Nez Perce verbs, which not only describe but perform motion:
June 28, 2026
An incredible use of language & sounds across languages. Reading it is a beautiful opportunity to experience Nez Perce words (and English and Latin). In the later portion, Coyote stories intersect with Greek myth in a way that really opens the mind to postcolonial possibilities.
Personal favorite is “two trains,” which has a balance of awe and pain that made me cry. Also loved “Sound Effects” - “we’é / the opening and closing of butterfly wings while butterfly is standing still.” What a word; what a collection!
Personal favorite is “two trains,” which has a balance of awe and pain that made me cry. Also loved “Sound Effects” - “we’é / the opening and closing of butterfly wings while butterfly is standing still.” What a word; what a collection!
July 19, 2026
A truly phenomenal volume of poems, many of them emphasizing on Indigenous language preservation and revitalization. distant water is the sort of collection that encourages the reader to research the origins of each poem's heartbeat, accompanied with breathtaking lines you will want to revisit again and again.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews