Molly O'Dell

Oyster River Pages: What inspired you to begin writing or creating? Has that source of inspiration changed throughout your life?

Molly O’Dell: My daughter, one of the most well-read people I know, inspired me to begin writing creatively. For this I am most grateful.

ORP: Does writing or creating energize or exhaust you? What aspects of your artistic process would you consider the most challenging or rewarding?

MO: I can't not write. Writing energizes me, for sure. I actually enjoy every aspect of writing from inspiration and drafting to revision and submitting. Each step requires different energy but the initial drafting is the closest thing I claim as a spiritual practice.

ORP: What do you hope readers (or your audience) will take away from your creative work?

MO: I recently read a quote by Zachary F Forrest Salazar, "I believe poetry, it its highest form, should raise the collective consciousness of humanity." I hope a reader of my creative work will experience some tiny bit of consciousness raising.

ORP: How does writing/art influence your worldview, and how does your worldview shape your writing/art?

MO: Writing is an expression of living in this world and writing definitely helps me objectify what the world has to offer.

Molly loves being outdoors. Her writing is influenced by her vocation as a physician. She received an MFA from University of Nebraska and her published collections include “Off the Chart”, a chapbook, “Care is A Four Letter Verb”, a multi-genre collection, and “Unsolicited: 96 Saws and Quips from the Wake of the Pandemic”, written for her public health colleagues and anyone else tired of SARS Co-V2.

READ Molly’s Poem “AT THE BUFFET” FROM ISSUE 7.1 HERE.