Margaret O’Donnell Noodin

Aanakwadoon / Wind Water 

Waabmiimii ge ogijise
waasechiganaatigong
bizhibaamiigwanetaad
mikwam-inaanzoyan
bikwagondang miinikaanensan 
oshkaabewisiwiyan mii miinawaa
gikendaman ezhi-epogwag
aanakwadoon.

Rock dove as you land
on the windowsill
a splash of feathers
the color of ice
a throat full of seeds
bearer-of-messages 
you know the taste
of water in the wind. 

Recording of Aanakwadoon / Wind Water by Margaret O’Donnell Noodin


Margaret O’Donnell Noodin is Professor of English and American Indian studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She is the author of Bawaajimo: A Dialect of Dreams in Anishinaabe Language and LiteratureWeweni and What the Chickadee Knows which are both bilingual collections of poetry in Anishinaabemowin and English. To hear her work, visit www.ojibwe.net.

Artwork by Christopher Schmidt

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