Green Linden Press

Binawan / Dew Falls

Gimbagami-nibwaakaamin
We become wise

ishkwaa gizhiibimaanakwak
after clouds pass suddenly

mii dash onizhishendamang
and our thinking clears

ge-mindookad daki-mookiseng
like dew forming in the cool dawn.


Gimbimaazhagaamemin omaa
We trace the edges here

dazhitaayang endazhi-zaagitooyang
in the place we love

anzanziin naabidoo’amang
threading seaweeds

gimaji-okaadeniganaatiginaaning
on our loom of troubles.


Binawan dash binaawe’amang
As the dew falls we shed

gaa-wanichigeyang inaabatebiigak
the misty mistakes we’ve made

wii-mazinaabidoo’iganikeyang
to make new patterns

mii inaabadiziyang gegapii.
and finally be of use.

Margaret O’Donnell Noodin received an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in English and Linguistics from the University of Minnesota. She is Professor of English and Associate Dean of the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Noodin is author of Bawaajimo: A Dialect of Dreams in Anishinaabe Language and Literature and two collections of poetry in Anishinaabemowin and English, Weweni and What the Chickadee Knows. She has also translated over 30 books for children into Ojibwe. To hear her work, visit www.ojibwe.net.

ISSN 2472-338X
© 2022