Would you have any influences poetically?
Leanne O Sullivan is someone that I love. Her debut collection, Waiting for My Clothes, was hugely important for me. Poets such as, Natalie Diaz, Diane Suess, Jessica Jacobs, Nickole Brown, Sandra Beasley, Ada Limón, Victoria Kennefick, Liz Quirke, Luke Morgan are also very important. I love Seamus Heaney, it’s hard not to be influenced by Heaney. Sean Hewitt is another poet I like a lot. I tend to return to all of their work quite frequently.

You were part of the Ulysses project?
That was a project organised by ANU, Landmark Productions, and Museum of Literature Ireland, as well as Poetry Ireland who got in touch with me, Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe and Harry Clifton. We were commissioned to write poems based on the Cyclops episode of Ulysses.
I found it quite difficult because the Cyclops episode is dominated by men, it is set in a pub and that is not a space I feel very comfortable in. It was a challenge, but I do think I responded in my own unique way to it.
I went to Dunderry and I filmed with Soffft Productions in a derelict house; they were amazing. I had just finished my book and I was asking myself, what am I going to do now? so that project filled a space at a time when I really needed it.
You also run an online discussion forum with poets, Just to Say?
I became involved with Jacar Press, particularly Richard Krawiec because I had won the Eavan Boland Mentorship Award in 2021, which allowed me to be mentored by an American poet, Dorianne Laux. Richard asked me to host an online international poetry event, a discussion interspersed with poetry readings monthly. It has been very useful to me because it exposes me to
the work of fellow contemporary poets, particularly American poets in a distilled and structured way.
The Zoom show is on a break at the moment but will return later in the year.
Where to now?
I am dabbling in non-fiction in a fearful, “I don’t know what I am doing,” kind of way. I am researching and brainstorming on Ballycotton Lighthouse as part of the lighthouse project, a collaborative artistic response to lighthouses around Ireland, curated by Dani Gill and produced in partnership with the Arts Council, Creative Ireland and festivals around the country. The plan is that I will write text to be accompanied by music or sound effects made by artist, Mike Ryan. Our work will feature at an event in Ballycotton during Heritage Week; I’m excited but very nervous! I’m also currently facilitating workshops in Dungarvan Library and reading through submissions for the next issue of The Waxed Lemon Literary Journal. I love my life as a poet, I wouldn’t change it for the world.
If you want to learn more about the work of Molly Twomey see the following link – mollytwomey.com