In the Poetry Programme on Sunday 27th November, at 7pm on RTÉ Radio 1, presenter Olivia O'Leary's guests are Molly Twomey and Helen Hutchinson.
Helen Hutchinson is a poet, Traveller and a founder member of Pavee Point. Much of her work reflects the Traveller way of life and the discrimination that her community has suffered.
As she explains, the scourge of suicide disproportionately affects the Traveller community and has touched her own family:
I pretend not to see her grieve
Two lives lost needlessly
Thinking
She should have gone before them
For that's the way it's meant to be
(From her award-winning poem No Stronger Love)
Molly Twomey grew up in Lismore, County Waterford. She runs an online international poetry event, Just to Say, sponsored by Jacar Press. In 2021, she was chosen for Poetry Ireland's Introductions series and awarded an Arts Council Literature Bursary.
Her poems have appeared in many poetry journals and chronicle a history of eating disorders, addressing the pressures to conform to ideals of appearance and size:
Her hands church her midriff.
It’s a ten, she says, I can’t believe it fits.
She’s been eating raw carrots, counting her steps.
(From Zipping Up My Mother’s Dress)
Molly's first collection, Raised Among Vultures, was published in May 2022 by The Gallery Press.
The Poetry Programme, RTÉ Radio 1, Sundays at 7pm - listen to last week's edition of The Poetry Programme below:
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