The Talking Stick

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Raine Geoghegan's poetry is like stepping inside another world. Gently, she guides you through her culture with word vision and much beauty. She transports your imagination as flower-buds seek precious light." - Jess Smith, Scottish Traveller Writer, Storyteller and Author."The poems in Raine Geoghegan's The Talking Stick: O Pookering Kosh are mainly based around family history and steeped in Romani culture and language. It feels like a privilege to be granted such insight to a people who are, for most of us, mysterious. This is not a romantic or sentimental view. The cruelty of their being moved on or forced into houses, and the horror of the Romany genocide in Auschwitz are shown as well as fondness for established traditions. However, it takes more than interesting content to make poems and the rhythms of the mixed English and Romany, as well as precise earthy detail, make fine poetry." - Dr. Angela France, Senior Lecturer and Poet, University of Gloucestershire."The poems and prose in The Talking Stick: O Pookering Kosh display a disappearing way of Romani life. Many of these pieces are set in Herefordshire where her family used to pick hops and fruit. They emanate a far-reaching emotional power that gently wakes the reader. They sway between the fortune tellers, the mouth organ, the wagons and the long road. Geoghegan cherishes memory and makes it work for her in these bold and heartwarming poems. Her voice is fresh and uncomplicated, we hang on her every word. She wastes nothing, 'purple and red of women's scarves/men's ties.' You get the sense of a much respected and caring community. The earthiness exists in every poem, the yearning, the longing, the belonging. Geoghegan's world is populated with children and mothers and much-loved fathers, aunts and uncles. She never forsakes the dead. Some pieces have a niggling fear of displacement in a way that is fearless and matter of fact. This collection is stunningly real." - Rita Ann Higgins, Poet & Playwright