Fire Strike
translated from the Ojibwe by the author
At the threshold
of melancholy
is a voice barely heard
a light wrapped in fog
and a piece of steel
longing for flint.
Strike it.
Zisikinebidoon
Gashkikanokaaning
apii gashkenindaman
agaawaa bapoweyan
waateg gashkaabateg
manidoo-biiwaabik
misawenimaad biiwaanan.
Zisikinebidoon.
Copyright © 2026 by Margaret Noodin. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 25, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.
“This poem is about fire, the sparks within all of us and what it takes to both ignite and understand our own energy. The poem was written first in Ojibwe and contains several instances of shk, a sound found in the words ishkode (fire) and gashkibijigan (bundle). These sounds add imprints of warmth for Ojibwe speakers. The translation in English is true to the meaning of the original, not naming the subject and concluding with an imperative invitation to intentionally ignite the sparks needed to restore health and prevent catastrophe.”
—Margaret Noodin
Margaret Noodin
Margaret Noodin is the author of Gijigijigaaneshi Gikendaan (Wayne State University Press, 2020) and Weweni (Wayne State University Press, 2015), both collections of bilingual poems in Anishinaabemowin and English, and Bawaajimo: A Dialect of Dreams in Anishinaabe Language and Literature (Michigan State University Press, 2014).