Umpaowastewin
by Margaret Noodin
This poem was published in the January 2016 issue of Poetry Magazine. Founded in Chicago by Harriet Monroe in 1912, Poetry is the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world.
For Pat Northrup the Jam-maker and Jim Northrup-ba the Word-crafter. Umpaowastewin means Beautiful Daybreak Woman in the Dakota language and is the name given to Pat Northrup.
Umpaowastewin
Ode’iminibaashkiminasiganke
She makes strawberry jam
ginagawinad wiishkobinoodin, waaseyaagami
mixing sweet wind and shining water
miinawaa gipagaa nibwaakaa,
with thick wisdom
bigishkada’ad, dibaabiiginad
pounding, measuring
gakina gaa zhawenimangidwa
everything we’ve cared for
gakina gaa waniangidwa
everything we’ve lost
nagamowinan waa nagamoyaang
the songs we have not yet sung
miigwanag waa wawezhi’angidwa
the feathers yet to decorate
ezhi-zhoomiingweyaangoba
and all the ways we’ve smiled
mooshkine moodayaabikoong
filling jars to the brim
ji-baakaakonid pii bakadeyaang
to be opened when we are thin
boozangwamyaang biboong besho
sleeping deeply in winter near
gaa oginiig endazhi-ginibigiwag
where the tomatoes once grew.