Today I have the pleasure of reviewing the first full collection of my poetry friend, Raine Geoghegan, The Talking Stick: O Pookering Kosh, shortly to be published by Salmon Poetry Press.  It contains a unique combination of poems, monologues, haibun and songs which celebrate the culture, traditions and beliefs of her Romany ancestors. Geoghegan uses this mixture of forms to give the texts an engaging directness that make the reader imagine (s)he has been welcomed into that community, to sit around the yog (fire) and share a cup of mesci (tea) or a even spot of tatti-panni (brandy) for an evening of sometimes amusing, sometimes moving but always thought-provoking family anecdotes, reflections and songs, in which the frequent use of dialect adds yet further colour and authenticity.

As we do so, we realise that this was a tight, self-sufficient, resourceful community. Friends, neighbours and family could always be relied…