Snowfire

Noel Monahan is from Granard, that strange Midland town which has wormed its way into the modern Irish consciousness. He has now moved as far as Cavan, like travelling from Lexington to Concord. He can read the old signs: afterbirth on the hedges; the white kiss of milk into the bucket. But he has to live in a different moral climate from 'the thistle-choking parish', though just as narrow. 'The three camels eat silage' now, and exiles throng the Christmas bars. It is a chill climate - 'white' is his favourite word, 'The Snowwoman' an unexpected Muse. But he has the energy to transform his region, opening Windows for himself and others, through publications and readings in 'an Ulster town, in the South.' The ground that Kavanagh once ploughed is being slowly colonised; people like Noel Monahan are reclaiming the bog.