VOICED. with Daragh Fleming
VOICED. is back and we’re digging deeper. Genuine conversations with original creatives using their voice to shape culture. Always on their own terms and told by those living it.
Starting off strong, we have Daragh Fleming, a multidisciplinary creative from Cork, Ireland. He is a published author with work featured in various literary journals, two collections of short stories, and a poetry chapbook - and more writing is on the way. Daragh uses spoken word to connect his work with new audiences. However, it’s not just Daragh’s writing and performance skills that excite us. Daragh connects with heart, soul and humour making both him and his work genuinely infectious. An avid mental health advocate Daragh is truly one of the good guys - and we’re so glad we managed to get to have a chat with him.
How's life?
Busy! I can’t complain at all. I’m tired, but that’s always the case with ADHD. Life is fun and random and I’m jut enjoying the ride for the moment. Oscar Wilde once said that life is too important to take seriously, and I take having a silly time VERY seriously.
Tell us what you do..
I wear many hats. Ultimately, I’m a writer. Always have been. Even if everything went away I’d still be writing. But I’m also a performer, spoken-word poet, activist, lyricist, mental health speaker. I’m also a friend, a son, a brother, a partner. I do lots of things, I’ve always found it hard to pick just one.
You both write and use your voice to express the depths of the human experience - and beautifully so. How has being able to speak your words impacted your work?
It honestly changes how I write poetry. When I’m writing I can tell fairly quickly if the piece is to be spoken or to be read. A while back I realized that hearing the writer read their own work enhances a person’s experience. Often friends would (reluctantly) read a piece I wrote, but if I said it for them it would really connect. So the impact has been major.
Your work touches on very personal and sensitive subjects whilst championing mental and physical health. How does it feel when you're able to connect with people using your voice?
My favourite feedback to get is when someone messages to say I’ve put into words how they’ve always felt but could never find the words for. That’s such an honour, to be able to do that for other people. It creates true connection, both between me and the person, but also between the person and themselves. My whole ethos is to try and make people feel less alone. And if they can connect with themselves more thoroughly they can shift from loneliness to solitude. So to be able to help people to do that is one of the greatest privileges of my life.
How do you look after yourself?
I do try to practice what I preach. I exercise a lot, get plenty of sleep, drink lots of water. Boring but important things. I’m getting better at giving myself time off. My girlfriend is teaching me how to relax, a skillset I’ve never really had. My ADHD brain makes it difficult to switch off from working. But I think, really, the most important thing I do is treat myself with the same level of compassion I afford to the people I love.
What's next for you?
There’s a lot going on. A few big gigs coming up, Barcelona Fringe and the main room in Whelan’s, Dublin. I’m also working on new music with Throwing Snow. We just released a new single FUCHSIA and will be waterfall releasing an EP from now until March. An album next year, another book. I’ll just keep writing and see where it leads me – it’s worked so far.
What's the best thing about your job? (The Murphys gig?!) Ha!
Being from Cork, the Murphy’s gig was special! But the best thing about my job is no two days are the same. I might be recording a song today, something for TV tomorrow, writing poetry the day after, giving a talk the day after that. There’s variety and that suits my brain. It can simultaneously feel chaotic of course, but I wouldn’t change it!
