"One hardly expects so much pleasure in a small collection." Poetry Ireland Review Curse of The Birds evokes a world of myth and dark energies. The flight of the soul in each of the four sections is unsettling. Ghosts abound in a bleak fragmented landscape. Curse of The Birds is a quarrel from within, wrestling with loneliness and uncertainty. It is elegiac, mischievously humorous and satirical. Noel Monahan speaks with compassion about and for the voiceless people whose ghosts haunt him. Noel Monahan has won several awards for his work, including the prestigious SeaCat National Poetry Award, organised by Poetry Ireland, the RTE / P.J. O'Connor Award, for his play, Broken Cups, the ASTI Achievements Award, The Allingham Poetry Award and The Kilkenny Prize for Poetry. His work has appeared in The Irish Times, The Sunday Tribune, Books Ireland, Poetry Australia and many more outlets. His collections of poetry include Opposite Walls (Salmon, 1991), Snowfire (Salmon, 1995) and The Funeral Game (Salmon 2002). He is co-editor of Windows Publications and has published five Authors & Artists Introduction Series. His plays include Half A Vegetable, a dramatic presentation of Patrick Kavanagh's poetry, A Proverbial Wet Summer, and Feathers of Time. His poetry has been translated into Italian, Romanian and French and he has read his work at numerous summer schools and poetry festivals throughout Ireland.