Gaawiin o’o dibendagaasinoon / None of this Belongs Here
Nigaganoonidiwag dash gaawiin noozhesiiyaang
We talk and no one is female
nindozhitoomin dash gaawiin naabesiiyaang
we build and no one is male
gaawiin o’o dibendagaasinoon
none of this belongs here
ge-ningide wadiswan
as the nest melts
nindagindaamin mitigoonsan
we are counting sticks
ningiziibiginaamin azhashki
we are washing mud
nindakonaanaanig asiniig
we hold onto stones
nimbiinjwebinaanaanig ezhi-enaazowaad
we toss their color into the air
gaawiin noondeyaabaagaasinoon ziibiwan
none of the rivers are thirsty
ge-bagwaakide dibikadini giizhig
as the day burns a hole in the night
nindaamin gaawiin ingoji onzaam
we live nowhere because
ningiiwemin miziwe geget apane.
we are everywhere going home.
Wanaanimizimagad / A Time of Confusion
Gaawiin jiichiigwanjigesiiwag
They don’t gnaw
jaachiibiingwenijig
the ones who wink.
Gaawiin gondansiinaawaa
They don’t swallow
beshkodowezhijig
the ones who skin.
Gaawiin maaminonendansiinaawaa
They don’t notice
ojiibikan aawiyaang
we are roots.
Gaawiin nisidotaansiinaawaa
They don’t understand
gikinoowizhangid ziibii
we guide the river.
Waagoshag waagaashiwag
Bent in the wind, the foxes
gojimandawaad jiigaakwaang.
sniff the edge of the treeline.
Waabizheshi geyabi bezhig onjida
The pine marten eats
o’amawaan waawaabiganoojiiyan.
one more mouse on purpose.
Zhagashkaandaweg nanaakonaawaad
The squirrels have declared war
wenibaashkijigaazojig.
on the lost ones who explode.
Biniskwaabiiginamigad
The unraveling
gaa maajitamagag.
has begun.
Mamaangaashkaa Michigaming / The Surging Sea
For Angelique Le Roy
Mamaangaashkaa besho Michigaming
On the surging shores of Lake Michigan
gii animaa’an ezhi-bimaadiziyaang mewenzha
it drifted away, the way we used to live
animaa’ogoyaang zhowanong
we also drifted, south
maadaa’ogoyaang zhooniiyaashkaa.
on waves of silver.
Gii madweyaashkaa apii maajiiwiidigeyaang
We heard the swell as our life began together
gii ditibaashkaa apii abinoojikeyaang
the rolling tides of making children
niibina biboonan gii giniginigeyaang
for many years mixing
Ojibwe, Mamaceqtaw, Bodwewedami.
Ojibwe, Menominee, Potawatomi.
Mii gii biidaashkaa mii adaaweyaang
Then on waves of trade
mii aanjisemigad apane aakiing
the earth forever changed
miinawaa oshme zinagad ji-bawaajige
and dreaming is more difficult
waasa agwaayaashkaa ningaabii’anong.
on the other side of the western break.
Note: Angelique le Roy, was born in 1766, although the exact date is not certain. She was the daughter of Joseph and Marguerite le Roy and the granddaughter of Menominee leader, Ahkenepaweh (Standing Earth). Her uncle Onaugesa was the Menominee leader of the Potawatomi at Milwaukee. In 1786 she married Jacques Vieu, who was born May 5, 1757 in Montreal. He worked for the North West Fur Co. first in Mackinac and Madeline Island, then Green Bay.
With Jacques, she began a family and opened trading posts in gathering places west of the Lake Michigan shoreline. In August of 1795 they arrived in Milwaukee and were welcomed by Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk people living there. They settled in an area west of Milwaukee Bay. Together they founded the village of Milwaukee, later platted by their daughter Josette and her husband, Solomon Juneau.
In 1836, after witnessing a small pox epidemic she returned with Jacques to a farm at Green Bay. She was not in Milwaukee in 1838 when, following the 1833 Indian-removal Treaty of Chicago, the United States Army troops rounded-up and forced Milwaukee area American Indians to gather at the “Indian Fields” (near the present-day Forest Home Cemetery) and then journey in a caravan to Kansas and Iowa Territory.
Jacques and Angelique had eleven children. The oldest was Madeleine Thibeault, who is listed as Menominee and Ho-Chink and lived in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Their son Paul, and at least four other siblings lived as members of the Potawatomi tribe in Kansas.
Angelique died in 1862 at the home of her son Joseph, in Lawrence, Wisconsin.