The Long Road to Freedom - a poem by Raine Geoghegan
This poem by Romani poet and writer Raine Geoghegan was commissioned by the Romani and Traveller Social Work Association and uses found words which have come directly from the Traveller community as they express how they feel about freedom and what it means to them.
‘On that first Romani road lies the fate of my people.’ Leksa Manus*
Half bird, half woman, a chain fixed around my ankle,
my beak, sealed, I can no longer call myself Freedom,
the name I was given long, long ago when I fled the old
country
‘Prastie, prastie, go free’ they chanted as I ran, then flew.
‘We come from a race of people that fled persecution; we made our
way on foot, carrying our belongings on our backs. We walked and
walked until we found new territories, but did we find freedom? It came
and went, like wind it raged, we felt it deep in our bones but then it was
gone and nothing could bring it back. What is it they say? Freedom is
given with one hand, then taken away with the other. It taunts
us, ‘you can, you can’t, you can, you can’t.’ We can’t have a fire outside
like we used to, we can’t have scrap in the back yard, we can’t pull up
along the drom when we’re tired. We can’t live the life we were born into
and go where we want to go.’
‘Prastie, prastie, go free.’
‘We used to climb onto the vardo, all of us chavies scrubbed clean in our
day togs, our bal tied in plaits, me brothers wearing their dikhlos, me Dada
carrying the small jook and sucking on peppermints. ‘Rya, let’s gel.’ Me
Dada, so smart in ‘is waistcoat, ‘is sovereigns on his fingers and a stadi on
‘is ‘ead. He took ‘old of the reins and off we went. Our kushti grai trotting
along the drom and all of us gillyin’. I didn’t notice the lines beginning to
show on me Daya’s face until she dropped down dead when the gavvers
forced us off the drom, and a posh woman took the baby away, ‘er ‘eart, it was.’
‘Prastie, prastie, go free.’
‘Freedom to breathe, to eat good grub, to go where I want to go, to live
where I want to live. Freedom, why do some ‘ave it and others don’t?’
‘I’d like to have a house with a big yard so I can pull the trailer on it and
travel in the summer.’
‘I’d like not to have insults thrown at me or get treated like dirt.’
‘We used to learn the Romani jib at our Daya’s breast but now it’s poggadi
jib, like everything else, broken.’
‘My ole mum wants to go back to ‘ow it used to be when she lived in ‘er trailer
but ‘er choice was taken away by the council.’
‘I’ve got a lovely ken but as soon as the blossom comes and the thrush begins
to sing, I wanna be back on the open road, it’s always callin’ me.’
‘Me and my sister don’t ever want to be locked away like me uncle was. We
wanna dress up and go places, we wanna be in the films, don’t we Kesi?’
‘Peace in the world, no racism, helping each other out, being left alone,
that’s what I call freedom.’
‘Freedom is the road. When they stopped us travellin’, they took it away.’
‘The birds of the air have their nests, the foxes have their holes, but the Gypsy,
his woman and the chavies have nowhere to lay their heads.’
‘We should all be free, to follow our path.’
‘Prastie, prastie, go free.’
Dik at the chiriclo
away it flies, untethered.
By Raine Geoghegan
Romani jib: Prastie – run; Drom – road; Vardo – wagon; Chavies – children; Togs – clothes; Bal hair; Diklhos – neckerchiefs; Daya – mother; Jook – dog; Gel – move/go; Stadi – cap; Kushti grai – lovely horses; Gillying – singing; Gavvers – policemen; Poggadi jib – broken language; Dik – look
Note: I have used found words to express people’s opinions on freedom.
*Leksa Manus, Latvian Roma Poet
About the author
Raine Geoghegan, M.A. is a poet, playwright, writing coach, performer, theatre practitioner and founder of ‘Writing as Sanctuary’, a Transformative Writing & Personal Development Programme and is of Romany, Welsh & Irish ethnicity. She is a Forward prize, twice Pushcart Prize, Michael Marks and Best of the Net nominee. Her three pamphlets are published with Hedgehog Press. ‘Apple Water: Povel Panni’ was chosen as a Poetry Book Society Spring 2019 Selected Pamphlet. Her work has been widely anthologised and has been placed in many competitions in the UK and Ireland. She won The Moon Prize for Writing in a Woman’s Voice and her poem; ‘The Birth of Rage’ was Highly Commended in the Winchester University’s Reaching Out Poetry competition. She won first prize in the Wee Sparrow Poetry Competition and was longlisted for the NHS Poetry Competition. Her essay ‘It’s Hopping Time’ is published in the anthology ‘Gifts of Gravity & Light’ with Hodder & Stoughton. She is the Romany Script Writer for the musical ‘For Tonight’. Her first full collection, ‘The Talking Stick: O Pookering Kosh’ is published with Salmon Poetry Press. Her play ‘The Tree woman’ was performed online for the Earthquake Festival on 2020 with the San Francisco Theatre Collective. Her videos can be found on You Tube and recordings on Sound Cloud. She was featured on Radio 4 ‘Soul Music’ in 2023 and appeared on RTE Channel 1 in September 2024, discussing her work and the book ‘Kin’. She is the curator and co-editor of Kin, an anthology of Romany, Traveller & Nomadic Women Artists, Poets and Writers, published by Salmon Poetry Press. She has another pamphlet of poetry coming out later in 2025.
She performs her work in the UK and Ireland including literary festivals Ledbury, Chichester, Tunbridge Wells, South Downs, Winchester, Misleor Nomadic Festival, Galway, Portsmouth Book Festival; The Living Levels Project, Cardiff, South Wales; she also performed at the Poetry Lounge in Sydney in 2022.
Residencies: Poet in Residence at Metal Arts Centre, Southend for the Royal Literary Fund’s Project ‘Writer’s Mosaic’.
Raine’s poetry and songs were featured in a documentary film: ‘Stories from the Hop Yards’ with Catcher Media in 2018. Her poem, ‘Memory of the Hop Yards’ was made into a short film for Wellington Junior School in Herefordshire.
Raine can be found on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. She is featured on the Database for Welsh Writers and has a Full Guest Profile on the Romany Arts & Culture Website.
Raine Geoghegan, BA Hons (Theatre & English Literature), MA, (Creative & Critical Writing) Dip RWTA (Member of the Society of Authors and Lapidus International. (She has Personal Indemnity Insurance and is DBS checked.
Rainegeo5@aol.com