"Dominic Allard, in these writings, stands revealed as an authentic voice of factory-encircled meadows and windswept back-entries both, scribe of the crossroads in the Clare tradition, genuine street-corner poet without any of those donkey-jacket 1980s affectations or militant tendencies, a vivid and unlikely chimera come from a species long since thought extinct. His words speak of an almost-gone emotional reality, a since-subsided proletarian warmth, an honesty entirely unafraid of sentiment, a great clarity of the heart. The moments here are sharp and lucid, this despite the dusty pane we view them through. It is the dying fire that we see the most pictures in, and that yields up the most affecting imagery. Watch the sparks rising as he stirs the embers."
- from the introduction by Alan Moore