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\u2018Gypsies had appeared in England around 1500, the latest stop on a journey that had begun in India, perhaps five centuries earlier, and thence progressed across the Middle East, the Balkans and continental Europe. They reached Germany in 1417, France in 1419 and Rome in 1422. Almost invariably they were seen (then as now) as \u2018bad\u2019. Their nomadic lifestyle threatened governments that required stability as a prerequisite of control; their features, their clothes, their occupations (fortune-telling, juggling, the selling of what Harman terms \u2018novelties, toys and new inventions\u2019) were seen as somehow \u2018dangerous\u2019. They stood apart and apart, as ever, meant alien.
\nThey also possessed one more attribute: their own language, Romani (from the Romani Rom, a man, thus a gypsy). A hybrid tongue, based ultimately on Sanskrit (the root form of the Indo-European group of languages), it had picked up a range of loanwords as the Gypsies moved West: some Hebrew, some Greek, some German, something from most of the Romance languages.\u2019 \u2013 Jonathon Green, \u2018The Romany Rise\u2019 (1999)<\/p>\n
I was thinking about gypsies. I had been thinking about Roma for a while. Studying nature writing and ecopoetics, I had begun to consider the mystery surrounding my paternal great-grandmother in a new light. As I explored Worcester, the Malvern Hills, Ross-on-Wye and Abergavenny, my attention shifted from the concrete features of the landscape to the ephemeral, the temporal, the supernatural possibilities of nature writing. Though not directly researching Roma, I was reading Jonathan Bates\u2019 biography of John Clare and The Song of the Earth, hiding from the wet autumn when not plucking boletes from the soil. One morning I woke to a voice. The voice was distinctive: slightly irked, yet melodic. His name is Ferka.<\/p>\n
While I tend to write in free verse, Ferka\u2019s insistence on melody and the phonemes of the dialect leads these Angloromani poems to evoke some of the imagery, stanzaic patterns, and metre of folksongs and ballads. For me, voice and poetic persona has thus been questioned; a tension which is difficult for me to express. Ferka echoes a lively stream of dialectical stories, and I continue to write them, unsure of how this work may be exhibiting my imaginative exploration of the past or how this corresponds with the other. These poems are, as Ferka is, primarily concerned with the landscape \u2013 the texture and light of the natural world \u2013 and our anxiety about our \u2018space\u2019 within it. There is some irony here, yet the material continues to be curiously evocative for me.<\/p>\n
\u2018I seemed to step into him, or he stepped into me, and there were various things about him which were very impressive\u2026 He could write a lot better than I could\u2026 Although he could step out of me, and I could step out of him, quite easily, he was a very demanding task-master.\u2019 \u2013 David Morley, interview with Simon K\u00f6vesi, John Clare Society Journal (July 2013)<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m a Romano rai, a poor didikai\u201d<\/p>\n
born to a blind rawni le the awning of the vardo
\nmarime mas nursed among the grast
\ndaia could keck see mira muj with fingers shirillo
\na jek star ratti, sherro on sheranda
\nher gadjo took zen, he left for lov\u00e9 on the lungo drom
\npooker in the poov, in the wavver
\na tarno mush cried \u201cprikaza!\u201d over the nicker
\nshame the koro luvni with the narky lolo thighs<\/p>\n
under kish simurti, Baba Rabena carried loon
\nher glas blessed the rat zuhro
\nmiro amria, bol and baxt
\npetalo and drab, the drabarni cursed him \u201cdat\u201d
\nher dijilia calmed the martiya, chased the strazhno
\nthe chivani lit the yog, left daia to sov
\nshe named me Ferka<\/p>\n
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didikai <\/em>a term of the Romanichal (the English branch of Romani or “Gypsies”) for travellers with mixed Romani blood; rawni <\/em>lady; vardo <\/em>wagon; marime <\/em>unclean (spiritually); mas <\/em>fresh meat; grast <\/em>horses; daia <\/em>mother; keck <\/em>not; mira <\/em>my (mas.); muj <\/em>face\/mouth; shirillo <\/em>frozen; jek <\/em>one; ratti <\/em>night; sherro <\/em>head; sheranda <\/em>colourful goose down pillow; gadjo <\/em>non-gypsy man; zen <\/em>saddle; lov<\/em>\u00e9 <\/em>money; lungo drom <\/em>long road; pooker <\/em>talk; poov<\/em> field; wavver <\/em>forest; tarno <\/em>young; mush<\/em> man; prikaza <\/em>omen\/bad luck; koro <\/em>blind; luvni <\/em>tart\/wench\/whore; narky <\/em>bad, risky, unpleasant; lolo <\/em>red; kish <\/em>silk; simurti <\/em>moon; loon <\/em>salt; glas <\/em>voice; rat <\/em>blood; zuhro <\/em>pure; miro <\/em>quiet; amria <\/em>curses\/spell; bol <\/em>voice music; baxt <\/em>good luck\/fortune; petalo <\/em>horseshoe; drab <\/em>herbs; drabarni <\/em>fortune teller; dat <\/em>father; dijilia <\/em>songs; martiya <\/em>spirit of the night; strazhno <\/em>danger; chivani <\/em>head wise-woman; yog <\/em>fire; sov <\/em>sleep; Ferka <\/em>European Romani name meaning \u2018freedom\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bewitchment<\/p>\n the rakli had kek diklem man the drabarni collected vervain avri the jigga I dikked parna kish <\/p>\n rakli<\/em> girl; kek<\/em> not; diklem<\/em> observed\/noticed; man<\/em> me; la<\/em> her; fams<\/em> hands; shom<\/em> with; tud<\/em> milk; gurumni <\/em>cattle; feril-pe <\/em>guarded\/protected; lesti <\/em>her; poov <\/em>field; drabarni<\/em> healer\/fortune teller; avri <\/em>from; jigga <\/em>gate; dikked <\/em>saw; parna<\/em> white; kish<\/em> silk; putsi<\/em> drawstring pouch\/purse; paddel <\/em>over; la ezi<\/em> her heart\/soul\/belly; efta <\/em>seven; patrin<\/em> leaves; zhanglem<\/em> I knew; lakki <\/em>she; ferime<\/em> immune; f\u00e1rmichi<\/em> witchcraft<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Smithing<\/p>\n delling mira perra, shamblin\u2019 \u201cmandi jall\u2019d to puv a grai chunnered ado a tamlo selta \u201cmandi stripped off at him <\/p>\n delling<\/em> kicking; mira<\/em> my; perra<\/em> feet; paddel<\/em> across; chokni puv <\/em>clover\/grassy field; bi-ashundo<\/em> unknown; tan<\/em> field; duddeno<\/em> shiny\/bright; ora <\/em>coins; lav<\/em> promise; o<\/em> the; bavval <\/em>air; bashlo<\/em> rang; shom<\/em> with; gl\u00e1so<\/em> voices; bashimos<\/em> clanging; aver than<\/em> somewhere else; mandi <\/em>I; jall\u2019d<\/em> went; puv <\/em>field\/pasture; grai <\/em>horse; stuggas<\/em> houses; avri <\/em>from\/away\/outside;<\/em> mush<\/em> man; olv\u2019d <\/em>came; mi <\/em>me; chunnered<\/em> pushed; ado<\/em> into; tamlo<\/em> dark; selta <\/em>tent; limpedo<\/em> bright\/glowing; gelbi <\/em>yellow; mori<\/em> lump; tuv<\/em> smoke; susta<\/em> iron; ruzlo <\/em>coarse; vestas <\/em>hands; da <\/em>and; bawro<\/em> heavy, great; towba <\/em>hammer; takimos<\/em> heat; darimos<\/em> fear; Har\u00e1po<\/em> dark-skinned, giant and cannibal ogre in folk tales; chored<\/em> took; stor<\/em> for; dell\u2019d<\/em> hit; yak<\/em> eye; sap<\/em> snake; diro <\/em>you; datchel <\/em>having a shaggy appearance (of clothes);<\/em> k\u00fbr<\/em> steal<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joanna Delyse Packwood is a postgraduate student at the University of Warwick. In 2015 she self-published a poetry chapbook entitled Songs of Hounds and Frogs, for which she was awarded the Mercian Prize for Poetry. Collaborating with artist Mandy Purchase, she will produce a collection of Angloromani poetry later in 2016. Joanna has read poetry at Ledbury Poetry Festival, The MAC Birmingham and The Library of Birmingham. A podcast of the Gothic in Birmingham event at The Library of Birmingham can be heard here: https:\/\/gothicinbirmingham.wordpress.com\/2015\/06\/19\/podcasts-of-gothic-day-talks\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Artwork: Mandy Purchase is an artist specialising in hand drawn illustrations, digital manipulation and 3D. She is passionate about all art and design, and enjoys the cross over between Illustration and Fine Art. She has a passion for anything creative but especially anything involving the natural world, nature and creation.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nla fams gloved shom tud
\nthe gurumni feril-pe lesti
\nin the peat of the poov<\/p>\n
\nat the new moon before dawn
\nthe dry flowers lay beneath my pillow
\nbetween my head and the straw<\/p>\n
\na putsi paddel la ezi
\nefta patrin, zhanglem, filled it
\nlakki was ferime to f\u00e1rmichi<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\npaddel the clods of the chokni puv
\ncoaxed to a bi-ashundo tan
\nduddeno ora was the lav
\no bavval bashlo shom a clatter
\ngl\u00e1so bashimos aver than<\/p>\n
\nall around the stuggas avri
\na mush olv\u2019d to mandi
\nto let mi avri\u201d<\/p>\n
\nlimpedo gelbi mori, limpedo coke
\ncoughs of tuv avri the susta
\nruzlo vestas da bawro towba
\nsweat avri o takimos, o darimos
\no Har\u00e1po chored me stor his striker<\/p>\n
\nand dell\u2019d him in the yak!
\nand sap mi diro datchel!
\ncan\u2019t the mush k\u00fbr well!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n