Raine Geoghegan (she/her) is a prize winning poet with an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Chichester. Born in the Welsh Valleys, she is of Romany, Welsh & Irish ethnicity. She has been nominated for the Forward Prize, Pushcart (twice), Michael Marks Award and the Best of the Net. She has three pamphlets published with Hedgehog Press and a full collection ‘The Talking Stick: O Pookering Kosh’ published with Salmon Poetry Press. She is also the Curator and Editor of ‘Kin’ an anthology of Romany, Traveller & Nomadic Romany Women’s voices, also with Salmon Press. She has read at literary events in the UK, Ireland and Sydney and has also performed her work at the House of Commons. She founded ‘Writing as Sanctuary’ in 2023 and facilitates transformative writing workshops and ancestral healing session. She has appeared on Radio 4 for ‘Soul Music’ and BBC Radio Wales. You can find her on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.
The Gypsy Camp at Auschwitz
February 1943: At Auschwitz-Birkenau, a family Gypsy camp was set up in a wooden barracks. August 2 1944: Over 4,000 Roma and Sinti men, women and children were murdered in the gas chambers. January 27 1945 at 3pm, Soviet soldiers reached the camp and found only one Rom among the survivors.
All Imperial War Museum Images: © Crown copyright reproduced under delegated authority from The Keeper of Public Records
the branches on the trees bend and sway
leaves fall and settle on the ground
sunlight seeps through mottled clouds
and all is quiet
a woman with long red hair
picks a blade of grass
holds it up to the light
remembering her husband
the shape of his mouth
how he spoke her name, Narilla
men kek bissa: we will not forget
an old chal with silver hair
takes his hat off, feels the warmth of the sun
on his head
his chavo was four years old when they were imprisoned
a year later he was taken and was never seen again
he had dark curls and hazel eyes
a chavali runs into the arms of her mother
who remembers she once had twelve chavies
all had hair the colour of the darkest earth
and eyes like wolves
.
men kek bissa: we will not forget
winter birds mourning on the branches
the earth remembering
how it has given refuge to the dead
no longer dead leaves trampled underfoot
they have become wild breathing flowers
growing in the dust.
“Except for a few survivors, a whole people unique in its life-style, language, culture and art, was wiped off the face of the earth. The death of the Gypsy Nation was more than physical; it was total oblivion.” Azriel Eisenberg, Witness to the Holocaust, 1981 (New York) taken from Danger, Educated Gypsy, selected essays by Ian Hancock.
Romani words:
Men kek bissa – we will not forget; Chal – man; Chavo – boy; Chavali – girl; Chavies – children
Previously published in ‘The Talking Stick: O Puckering Kosh’ with Salmon Poetry Press, 2022 and in ‘KIN’ an anthology published with Salmon Press.
Raine Geoghegan
they lit fires, moved in close by Raine Geoghegan
Walking with the Wagons by Raine Geoghegan
A Memory of the Hop Fields by Raine Geoghegan
The Lungo Drom by Raine Geoghegan