When the Romanies were forced off the roads into houses they were saddened by the fact that they could no longer hear the cuckoo sing. 

Koring Chiriclo – a cuckoo

Chavy – a small child

I’ve loved to hear the cuckoo sing.

I’m a Romany, always travelling

from Huntingdon to King’s Lynn.

I’ve loved to hear the cuckoo sing

since I was a chavy in a sling.

Summer, autumn, winter, spring.

I’ve loved to hear the cuckoo sing.

I’m a Romany. Always travelling.

© Raine Geoghegan, published in They Lit Fires: Lenti Hatch O Yog (Hedgehog Poetry Press, December 2019)

Picture 10197300, photograph by Tony Boxall, 1973, image copyright Mary Evans / Tony Boxall

Raine Geoghegan is a poet, prose writer and playwright of Romany, Welsh and Irish descent living in the UK.  She is a Forward Prize, Pushcart Prize, and Best of the Net nominee. Her debut pamphlet, Apple Water – Povel Panni, was previewed at the Ledbury Poetry Festival in 2018. It was also a Poetry Book Society spring 2019 selection. They Lit Fires: Lenti Hatch O Yog was published in December 2019 with Hedgehog Poetry Press. Her first full collection will be published with Salmon Poetry Press in March 2022.