Marcie R. Rendon released her first book of poetry, “Anishinaabe Songs for a New Millenium.” The book launched at Birchbark Bizhiw in Minneapolis on July 16th. Two Anishinaabe musicians joined Rendon for a unique reading that combined music, poetry, and culture.
Transcript
Marie Rock: This is Minnesota Native News. I’m Marie Rock. This week, Indigenous author Marcie R. Rendon released her first book of poetry, “Anishinaabe Songs for a New Millenium.” The book launched at Birchbark Bizhiw [[bih-ZHEW]] in Minneapolis last Tuesday. Rendon was joined by two Anishinaabe musicians for a unique reading that combined music, poetry and culture. Here’s CJ Younger with more.
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CJ Younger: On July 16, Birchbark Bizhiw was filled with music and conversation ahead of the release of Marcie Rendon’s latest book, “Anishinaabe Songs for a New Millenium.” Rendon is an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation. She has written everything from plays to murder mysteries, but this is her first book of poetry.
The book is split into two parts—the first half is filled with poem-songs that can be sung with a traditional drum as accompaniment. The second half is written in Western musical notation, which Rendon collaborated with local composers Brent Michael Davids and Ann Millikan to create.
Author Marcie Rendon says the musical focus of the book is deeply rooted in Anishinaabe culture.
Marcie Rendon: Well, it goes with our teachings as Anishinaabe people that each of us is given a song, but we have to get quiet enough to listen to it. You know, somebody goes out and fasts. That's typically when you hear old people were given a song. Or people are given a song in a dream. But you have to actually pay attention to what's coming to you. So these are songs—poems, dream songs—that I got quiet enough to hear, and then I wrote them down. And because of oppression and the genocide that was practiced against us as Native people, that taking of our language, taking of the children, many of these traditions…not all Ojibwe people know that anymore. So really for me, the purpose of the book was to let people know. If we get quiet enough, everybody can hear their song. Not everybody's going to hear that song in the Ojibwe language. Some of us are going to hear it in English. Maybe somebody else will hear it in a totally different language. I don't know. But it's more about the idea about really paying attention to the spiritual world around us.
Younger: Indigenous musicians, artists, and community members from around the state came to support and appreciate the presentation of her work. The evening opened with music from Anishinaabe traditional singer Mark Erickson.
Mark Erickson: There was an opening song, a lot of people call it a grand entry song, but it’s pretty common amongst Anishinaabe to sing in Northern Minnesota and Southern Ontario. And then there were two Red Lake songs I learned from my uncle, and then one song was from Lac La Croix, which I learned from my elder.
Younger: At the reading, Rendon spoke with Lyz Jakoola, an enrolled Tribal member of the Fond du Lac band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. A musician herself, Jakoola is well-versed in Anishinaabe songs.
Lyz Jakoola: I was pleased to find that the poems inside are reminiscent of some of the older poetry from the songs that I remember reading about when I was a younger student. There’s a number of songs about women and our connection to Grandmother Moon or to water. There’s a lot there for me. I’ll be reading these for years to come, I think.
Younger: And while Rendon’s songs take the form of a bound book, Rendon says for Annishinaabe people, it’s much more than that.
Rendon: You know, my hope is that it's not just about the poetry, but that it's actually about this teaching that each of us has our own song and that the traditions are still alive. They still exist, and we just have to be open to exploring what is still ours.
Younger: “Anishinaabe Songs for a New Millenium'' can be ordered from Birchbark Books or your local bookseller. To keep up with Rendon’s work, visit her website marcierendon.com.