What the Chickadee Knows

Great Lakes Books Series

by Margaret Noodin

Margaret Noodin explains in the preface of her new poetry collection, What the Chickadee Knows (Gijigijigaaneshiinh Gikendaan), "Whether we hear giji-giji-gaane-shii-shii or chick-a-dee-dee-dee depends on how we have been taught to listen. Our world is shaped by the sounds around us and the filter we use to turn thoughts into words. The lines and images here were conceived first in Anishinaabemowin and then in English. They are an attempt to hear and describe the world according to an Anishinaabe paradigm." The book is concerned with nature, history, tradition, and relationships, and these poems illuminate the vital place of the author's tribe both in the past and within the contemporary world.

What the Chickadee Knows is a gesture toward a future that includes Anishinaabemowin and other indigenous languages seeing growth and revitalization. This bilingual collection includes Anishinaabemowin and English, with the poems mirroring one another on facing pages. In the first part, "What We Notice" (E-Maaminonendamang), Noodin introduces a series of seasonal poems that invoke Anishinaabe science and philosophy. The second part, "History" (Gaa Ezhiwebag), offers nuanced contemporary views of Anishinaabe history. The poems build in urgency, from observations of the natural world and human connection to poems centered in powerful grief and remembrance for events spanning from the Sandy Lake Tragedy of 1850, which resulted in the deaths of more than four hundred Ojibwe people, to the Standing Rock water crisis of 2016, which resulted in the prosecution of Native protesters and, ultimately, the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline on sacred land.

The intent of What the Chickadee Knows is to create a record of the contemporary Anishinaabe worldview as it is situated between the traditions of the past and as it contributes to the innovation needed for survival into the future. Readers of poetry with an interest in world languages and indigenous voices will need this book.

Genres: Poetry, Indigenous, Nature, Nonfiction

91 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2020

About the author

Margaret Noodin (previously Margeret Noori, born 1965) is an American poet and Anishinaabemowin language teacher. She is an Assistant Professor of English and American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Adina · Rating 4 out of 5]

They don’t notice
we are roots.
They don’t understand
we guide the river.
Bent in the wind, the foxes
sniff the edge of the tree line.
The pine marten eats
one more mouse on purpose.
The squirrels have declared war
on the lost ones who explode.
The unraveling
has begun.

Favorites:
Landing Here
Matches
Teasing Shakery
Rock Your Soul
The Ones Alive
A Joyful Life
None of This Belongs Here
Time Flight
Paths into the Past
A Time of Confusion
After the Vote
An Old Charm
This Is No Conclusion

[Michelle Huber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big thanks to WSU Press for sending me this, you're all amazing!

I loved reading this, poems that spread their warmth to your heart that only lasted a short while. Oral Interpretation from high school me is THRIVING this year. I wish I could've found Indigenous poetry like this as a youth, I would have loved it.

I enjoyed the poems that had hidden deeper meaning, yet made you feel complete and serene.

Definitely give it a shot, read it in a sitting.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked that the Anishinaabemowin and English were on opposite pages, so I could see (or imagine) some repeated and/or similar seeming words.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tend to try to buy poetry when I am on vacation somewhere with a bookstore, and I got this on a recent trip to Roebling's Books in Covington, KY. So, so glad I got this, I loved this work very much.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poems in this collection are immediate and evocative. There is simplicity and honesty in them, and I love them!
I am fascinated by what Robin Wall Kimmerer called the "grammar of animacy" in her book "Braiding Sweetgrass" and it was from that book that I have just read "What the Chickadee Knows" by Margaret Noodin. Each poem in her book has a translation from the Anishinaabe language into English.
If I was a young man again starting out in life, with some of the wisdom I now have, I think languages would be something I would choose to study.
Like most of the poetry books I have, I will read this one again and again.

[Malli (Chapter Malliumpkin) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I know there are different worlds
because our ancestors sent them messages
because lost lovers now live in them
because you just said that right now."

Another book that made me soft, teary eyed, and squishy! I loved this book so, so much. I think when I was taking notes and updating my reading progress I said something along the lines of, "Not me five pages in and sobbing over chickdees!" I just loved this poetry collection so much and the fact that it's both in Anishinaabemowin and English was such an incredibly thing to see. This was such a captivating read that's laced with deeper meanings to things and even though this is a quiet book, it's so loud. This collection highlights the importance of traditions and relationships, but we also see history and connections, many connections, to nature.

"Whether we hear giji-giji-gaane-shii-shii or chick-a-dee-dee-dee depends on how we have been taught to listen. Our world is shaped by the sounds around us and the filter we use to turn thoughts into words."

Overall, I don't want to spoil too much because I think this collection is better when you go into it without knowing too much about it. It's just a better experience when you go into it with an open heart and open mind. I wish as a kid I'd seen more books like this that had the dual languages. I think if I had books like this as a kid, it would have been absolutely everything. If you're a poetry lover, I definitely have to recommend this to you. Plus, this cover is probably one of my favorite covers of all time, but I'm also very sentimental of chickadees.


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[Jeimy · Rating 5 out of 5]

You had me at hello.

The preface of this book begins by talking about onomatopoeia. Specifically, the sounds animals make according to the different languages.

In the author's native Anishinaabemowin, the chickadee sings the following song, "gijigijigaaneshiishii," as opposed to the English song, "chickadeedeedee." As a fully bilingual person (English and Spanish) and learner of Italian, I have been fascinated by how differently we hear animal sounds based on our first language.

The poems in this book are written in Anishinaabemowin and readers unfamiliar with the Ojibwe language can read the English translations that accompany the text. The preface is a must read for anyone.

I loved the poems which did not follow the haiku format, but did offer snapshots into moments, reflections on the now that are tied to nature. I waited to review them until after the publication date in the hopes that there was an audiobook so that I can listen to the poems as they were originally written, but sadly, there is none. However, the English translations can be appreciated without knowledge of Anishinaabemowin.

[Phobean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first two-language Indigenous read! On the left-hand pages, Anishinaabemowin, and on the right hand side English. The poetry was fairly slight, which suited me because I love a short poem. Most of the topics I found intriguing and the overall impression was slow paced, textured consideration. I was glad for the range of topics covered, and happy to learn about the experiences of this poet, although I admit that some of the poems didn’t quite reach me as I didn’t fully understand the topic.

My favorite poem in the book is titled “Writing Images in Circles”. It’s posed as a series of questions with no answers, and then transitions into Big Answers.

On a sidenote it was a cover of this book that pulled me in. I am a fan of the adorable chickadee bird and I am so pleased to know another term for them. I can now do my bird impressions side-by-side: chicka chicka dede and giji giji gaane shii shii.

[Jim Mcvoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming poems about life and nature by a Native American writer. Parallel translations.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of poetry will likely be my favorite book of poetry for the year. Noodin shares words in Anishinaabemowin and then they are translated to English. She gives you a "road map" for reading the poems in the native language so that you can linger over the Anishinaabemowin before diving into the English translation. I read this book through multiple times and was sad to have to return it to the library... a copy has been purchased so that I have it in my collection. I highly recommend this powerful little book!

[Molly]

Noodin's previous poetry collection, Weweni is one of my favorites, so I was excited to discover that she had written another book. What the Chickadee Knows is so lovely. The second part, "History," resonated more deeply than the first half. I love that she writes about the upper Midwest region and the Great Lakes and I love slowly making my way through the original Anishinaabemowin. Highly recommended.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of poems written in Anishinaabemowin and simultaneously translated into English, and it celebrates a worldview where all the constituents of nature are in balance and none is more important than the other. In these poems, comparisons are drawn between various aspects of nature and the poems both celebrate lives lived in union with nature and mourn the destruction of the natural balance. The collection is an ode to life as it should be, and a gentle call to action- it is only when we accept what we can be that we can try to restore the balance.
While I couldn’t understand Anishinaabemowin at all, there was a joy in reading it to myself and allowing the cadence to wash over me. The poet says that she deliberately left gaps in the translation, to encourage the reader to leap over the fissures, but that was not an experience I could experience. All I could do was to enjoy the sheer lyricism of the words.
This was a quick read that I absolutely enjoyed.

[Cheryl]

I just read that this writer is under suspicion for not truly being indigenous, but is a recognized scholar of the language, and I sympathize with both sides, and there has been no new reporting since October of last year so will not add any opinion or rating, just an example of the way the Anishinaabemowin language is used.

BANGAN ZOOGIPOOG
Epiichi bangan zoogipoog biinijichaagigewaad biidaazhegaamewaad endazhi maaminonendamang ezhi-oshkibaakadawaabiyang waaseyaabang.

SILENT SNOWFALL
While silently the snow falls souls are washed new arriving along the shore where we pause to consider the way each dawnlight opens our eyes again.

AGOOZIMAKAKIIG IDIWAG
Epichii maadaa’ogoyang basweweyang beshoganawaabmigag aawiyang waasaganawaabmigag aawiyang biibaagiyang ani biibaaginidiyaang.

WHAT THE PEEPERS SAY
As we drift away on our echoes we are the details we are the distance and all calling becomes our calling.

TRUST
Trust that you know some people who will surprise you with the way they care for the world and every small spider the way they care for you as you open and shut then open again. Polish the way they shine. Recognize yourselves in shared water.

WE HONOR WATER
We honor the liquid the entire flowing watershed echoing here and there water infusing our path. We honor her silver brilliance. We honor both night and day suns soft grandmother reflecting, great grandfather burning.

A GRADUAL FLOWING TRANSFORMATION
The great sea was pinched by the glaciers land reaching, water pointing, trees leaning inside the lake, outside the land. It is here we are loved by the slow swell of tides that echo the rasp of our lives. This place speaks to us of long winters, summer growth, and slow constant change.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely poems about nature and society, and how we exist within them and interact with them. As a life-long resident of the Great Lakes region, these poems sing to my soul. And as someone who cannot read the Aniwhinabewomin text but did train as a linguist, I appreciated the chance to see and work my way through this bilingual text, looking for the rare familiar word ('Hello, gitchigqmi", "I see you there, menoomin") or patterns in the morphology. I was unprepared for the way certain poems in English simply took my breath away after having struggled my way through understanding what I could of the Anishinabewomin - something about the switch from decoding the patterns of language to immersing oneself in the truth of the ideas behind the words was simply beautiful.

I was not surprised to learn that Noodin is a professor of literature and culture (at my alma matter - go, Panthers!), as her gentle way of introducing a pronunciation key or the way she shares the idea that the way one hears and replicates a birdsong affects their worldview both show her adeptness at getting her readers to think.

I was left with so many questions about the language, about the word choices between the texts, about meter and rhyme... This one will be a book to come back to.

[Bunni · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the themes of the natural world, history, and politics throughout, I felt the underlying emotion of the collection was of everyday joy in one’s culture and community. Works displaying indigenous joys are what I have been seeking. My favorite poem is Umpaowastewin/Daybreak Woman, I read it over and over. The way Noodin is able to take you through the essence of entire seasons, traditions, and relationships in a few short lines is very moving, you can almost feel the harvest wind gracing your neck and the sticky jam on your finger tips. I am fascinated by concepts from the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, which is why I value bilingual works such as this. It is a lovely way to experience the different ways one can perceive in this world, even if I may not fully understand every term and reference within the cultural paradigm as a non-Anishinaabe reader, I still connect with the joy and concern expressed within the poems and the preface. I feel Anishinaabeg and Anishinaabemowin speaking people will be especially moved and attached to the beautiful reflection of themselves in this work.

[Jordan]

“The midnight goose goes away in fear flying across a sea of clouds thinking in a goose language of . . . guns . . . sweet wild rice . . . and secrets then arrives singing into the silence of the strength that comes after being afraid diving into the river to sift again.”

— What the Chickadee Knows by Margaret Noodin

This collection of poetry made me feel as if I was inhaling the fresh scent of pine in a cool autumn air— made me feel as if I could hear soft waves lapping against a lake’s shoreline, mist on my breath. In other words, Noodin’s work is beautiful and refreshing— but beyond that, it is also thought provoking and easily conveys powerful naturesque imagery for the reader.

The author did a fantastic job of capturing and translating the magic of her Anishinaabemowin writings into English.

I would recommend this book without hesitation to anyone who values poetry, nature, and moments of reflection.

[Pandaaaaaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first poetry collection I've read that has been written by an indigenous author. I really loved the fact that it was written in both Anishinaabemowin and English. I enjoyed the 'history' section of this book the most because, as a poc, my land/home had also been colonised on by many, so really I could relate to those poems too.
Overall, my favourite poems were:

What the peepers say
A message to you
Writing images in circles
People were created to be loved
Translation of an elegy
Tracing balance
None of this belongs here
A gradual flowing transformation
Two or three thousand years
A time of confusion
A sandy healing song
Portrayed in the newberry
How do we speak of this?
An old charm

[Camille Dungy]

“Whether we hear giji-giji-shii-shii or chick-a-dee-dee-dee depends on how we have been taught to listen.” These are the first words in Noodin’s preface to a collection of poetry “conceived first in Anishinaabemowin and then in English.” These poems, Noodin writes, “are an attempt to hear and describe the world according to an Anishinaabe paradigm.” Including a pronunciation guide and English translations, What the Chickadee Knows allows readers another way to read and see and hear landscapes and lives and waters and skies around the confluence of the Minisota and Michizibi Rivers.

Review published originally with Orion Magazine: https://orionmagazine.org/2021/11/nat...

[Regine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely. The Anishinaabemowin poems tantalize. The English translations have a gentle sensibility, somewhat elusive. Noodin writes of the gaps that “mark doorways between eras and worldviews.” Coming upon them makes me wish I knew more.

Silent Snowfall

While silently the snow falls
souls are washed new
arriving along the shore
where we pause to consider
the way each dawnlight opens our eyes again.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This line from the Preface feels like a very appropriate final read for 2020:

“There is much to fear in our century as humans are learning hard lessons about balance and greed, but there is also great joy to be found in the bitter taste of pine needles, memories of ones who know the stars, and open hearts of the ones we trust.”

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m glad I read these poems. They are simple. Direct. Clear. They almost slipped by me in their simplicity, but there is a depth here that is powerful and true and well worth attending to. Her poems are about nature, humans, creation (all our relatives). They are poems about water and land and cruelty and flight and the past. They are beautiful. I’m very glad I read them.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a parallel text collection of original poetry in Anishinaabemowin, translated by the poet into English. Both clauses of that sentence seem to me to brim with generosity toward the past, our aching present, and the future.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book of poetry was written first in Ojibwemowin and then written in English. Lovely images, flowing words and sounds evoke a culture nearly lost but now being reclaimed. A delight to read.

[Rachel Malleappah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first time reading poetry:) loved it and will look for more :)

[Courtney Smith Atkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one may be awesome on audio. What I liked was that each poem was translated to English but you could see the original language on the opposite page. I read the hard copy book version.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and thought-provoking. I read these as meditations before my morning sitting-time and they were perfect for that. Have made copies of some to send to friends.

[Sonia Sulaiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are poems for listening to in the heart. I found myself reading back and forth from the English to the Anishnaabemowin.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish I had listened to an audiobook so I could appreciate both versions of each poem but I enjoyed these poems in English.

Favorite Poems:
A Message to You
Trust
The Ones Alive

[Anamaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful collection.

[Marian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is here we are loved
by the slow swell of tides
that echo the rasp of our lives.