Margaret Noodin is the author of Bawaajimo: A Dialect of Dreams in Anishinaabe Language and Literature and Weweni, a collection of bilingual poems in Ojibwe and English. Her poems and essays have been anthologized and published in Sing: Poetry from the Indigenous Americas, Poetry Magazine, The Michigan Quarterly Review, Water Stone Review, Yellow Medicine Review and New Poets of Native Nations. She works with the First Nations Program in the Milwaukee Public Schools, the Milwaukee School of Languages, the Milwaukee Indian Community School, the Audubon Center and the Urban Ecology Center. With her daughters, Shannon and Fionna, she is a member of Miskwaasining Nagamojig (the Swamp Singers) a women’s hand drum group whose lyrics are all in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe). To see and hear current projects visit www.ojibwe.net where she and other students and speakers of Ojibwe have created a space for language to be shared by academics and the native community. She is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she also serves as the Director of the Electa Quinney Institute for American Indian Education.---------
Bangan Zoogipook / Silent Snowfall
Epiichi bangan zoogipook
While silently the snow falls
biinijichaagigewaad
souls are washed new
biidaazhegaamewaad
arriving along the shore
endazhi maaminonendamang
where we pause to consider
ezhi-oshkibaakadawaabiyang waaseyaabang
the way each dawnlight opens our eyes again.
Ishkodensan / Matches
Indagindaas, agindaasoyaan
I am counting, counting
gii zegimiyan
the ways you scare me
gaashaabikidowinan
with sharp iron words
aandeg dazhwaangenid
a crow spreading wings.
Diba’iganens, diba’igan
a minute, a mile
gaawiin ningii enendamsii
I didn’t think
ji-maaminonendamyaan
to notice
ishkodensan gii dakonaman
the matches you were holding.
Giginjiba’in ginjidamaan
I flee you, pounding
negwaakwaajigan indeying
the tap back into my heart
giba’amaan bagonewin
plugging the hole
jibwaa-onjigaa’aanimiziyaan
before my fear leaks.
Baashkide, baashkine
Explosion, expiration
mii bagosendamaan
and now I hope
wii ezhi-meshkwaadoyaan
for a way to trade
bwaa-minjinaweziyaan
without regrets.
Zoongizaagidowin / Fierce Love
Aabitaa-dibiki-wewe animaanimizi
The midnight goose goes away in fear
aazhogebizod aanakwaa-gamig
flying across a sea of clouds
wewemo’enendaang
thinking in a goose language of
. . . baashkiziganan
. . . guns
. . . wishkobii-manoomin
. . . sweet wild rice
. . . gaye giimoodag
. . . and secrets
miidash biida’amaazo bizaanabiwan
then arrives singing into the silence
ezhi-zoongide’eyang ishkwaa zegiziyaang
of the strength that comes after being afraid
ezhi-zoongizaagidizoyang ishkwaa bangishimangid.
of the fierce love that comes after loss.