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162 Poem for Our Ojibwe Names Those stars shine words right into the center of the dream. Gego zegizi kane. Gego zegizi kane. Maajii’am Maajii nii’m Majii gigidoon. So it is when we have our names. We will not fear. We start to sing, to dance, to speak. When we did not know him the stick man, the running man, came jigging in our dreams. Always in motion like a wooden toy, he sang “Bakenatay, Bakenatay” so deeply his voice was a root. So too the woman wrapped in red wool, whose laughter woke us, “Chi Wabeno.” She spoke the word for dreamers— then teased in diminishment, “Waban-ish.” Still her meaning took us years to learn. Gego zegizi kane. Gego zegizi kane. Maajii’am Maajii nii’m Majii gigidoon. 163 So it is when we have our names: We will not fear. We start to sing, to dance, to speak. It is not what you imagine, no matter what you imagine. Stars shine stories. Words come speaking into our dreams. ...

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