biidaaban
Samantha Martin-Bird is a citizen of Peguis First Nation, currently living on the north shore of Lake Superior. Her poems blend anishinaabemowin and nêhiyawêwin to tell stories about love and the land. Martin-Bird was a winner of the Indigenous Voices Awards in 2021 and has work forthcoming in Room and CV2.
he texts me
egwa mooka’am
gaandoo-waabandaamin
really zhagaanash says
come watch the
sunrise with me
giizis peers
over gichigami
over nanabijou
the fog of our breath
like the mist on the lake
he brings coffee the way i like
avocado egg toast sandwiches
i offer sage from last summer
gifts of cedar
he prays to a foreign god
a miserable manidoo
a colonial divinity
i lead him to the shore
offer asemaa
to him
to the lake
gichigami looks me dead in the eye
whispers
gaawiin aweti ininiwish
gichigami means it
not this fucking dude
Samantha Martin-Bird is a citizen of Peguis First Nation, currently living on the north shore of Lake Superior. Her poems blend anishinaabemowin and nêhiyawêwin to tell stories about love and the land. Martin-Bird was a winner of the Indigenous Voices Awards in 2021 and has work forthcoming in Room and CV2.