Under the Influence takes the reader into the sometimes comical and frequently heart-breaking relationship between the author and her elderly, care-homed mother. The sequence of free-verse poems comments on the lasting influence of a flame-haired, cabbage-water drinking seamstress on the child who was told she had a face only a mother could love. Included is 'Fur Coat and No Knickers' an award-winning poem which has struck a cord with many about the occasionally humorous frustrations shared by frail elderly parents and their necessarily resilient adult children.

Under the Influence received a commendation in the 2021 Fool for Poetry Competition run by Munster Literature Centre, Ireland.