What do you think?
Rate this book
A Brief Inhalation
Daragh Fleming’s A Brief Inhalation is a candid exploration of contemporary existence, dissecting themes of identity, dislocation, and introspection with a sharp, unflinching eye. Blurring the line between essay, memoir, and poetic observation, Fleming navigates encounters with the absurd, the intimate, and the existential with a voice that is wry, incisive, and deeply human. From fragmented conversations to immersive cityscapes, from the weight of memory to the fluidity of self-perception, this collection captures the restlessness of a mind attuned to the strange rhythms of modern life.
PRAISE for A Brief Inhalation:
A Brief Inhalation is Cork-born poet, essayist and activist Daragh Fleming’s warm, meditative and often laugh-out-loud funny treatise on grief, loss, discomfort and coming-of-age. Covering subjects as diverse as the strange and melancholy beauty of inherited clothing, inner city skateboarding, ADHD, childhood snake rearing, the world of social (and anti-social) media, and all too brief interludes with mysterious strangers who leave lasting impressions, Fleming, with trademark wit and honesty weaves his way from his home in Ireland on travels through Barcelona, Prague, London and Lyon observing new and unfamiliar locales through the eyes of an outsider searching for connection. Part creative manifesto, part travelogue, part personal memoir, there are shades of early Richard Linklater in these tales of missed romantic opportunity and youthful misadventure with a roll call of unforgettable characters who leap off the page.
— Lucy Holme
These diary-like episodes show Fleming’s fearlessness, exposing his young heart’s frailties and transgressions with the art and honesty of a poet.
— Paul McVeigh
A Brief Inhalation is a book that you will, as the title demands, inhale as Daragh fumbles his way, disarmingly, through Europe and his emotions. Reminding you with every carefully chosen word, every cautionary tale, that the only person who can save you is you.
— Kate Durrant
Throughout the impactful, soul-baring essays in A Brief Inhalation, Daragh Fleming shares with the reader personal experiences ranging from the sublime to the surreal. With a twist of deadpan humour and a poetic sensibility, he harnesses a tender honesty to write about navigating love and friendship in the digital age, the trials of burgeoning sexuality and finding connection among strangers abroad. This is a deeply human and intimate collection of memories, ruminations and revelations, penned by a writer whose greatest strength is his willingness to be vulnerable in a world that doesn’t always reward vulnerability.
— Aoife Barry
ABOUT Daragh Fleming:
Daragh Fleming is a writer from Cork, Ireland. He has work published in many literary magazines, including Stand, Southword, and Crannóg. He was shortlisted for the Alpine Fellowship Poetry Prize in 2024, and highly commended for both the Patrick Kavanagh Award and the Fool For Poetry Prize in 2023. He won the Duncairn Flash Competition in 2024. This is his second collection of essays.
PRAISE for A Brief Inhalation:
A Brief Inhalation is Cork-born poet, essayist and activist Daragh Fleming’s warm, meditative and often laugh-out-loud funny treatise on grief, loss, discomfort and coming-of-age. Covering subjects as diverse as the strange and melancholy beauty of inherited clothing, inner city skateboarding, ADHD, childhood snake rearing, the world of social (and anti-social) media, and all too brief interludes with mysterious strangers who leave lasting impressions, Fleming, with trademark wit and honesty weaves his way from his home in Ireland on travels through Barcelona, Prague, London and Lyon observing new and unfamiliar locales through the eyes of an outsider searching for connection. Part creative manifesto, part travelogue, part personal memoir, there are shades of early Richard Linklater in these tales of missed romantic opportunity and youthful misadventure with a roll call of unforgettable characters who leap off the page.
— Lucy Holme
These diary-like episodes show Fleming’s fearlessness, exposing his young heart’s frailties and transgressions with the art and honesty of a poet.
— Paul McVeigh
A Brief Inhalation is a book that you will, as the title demands, inhale as Daragh fumbles his way, disarmingly, through Europe and his emotions. Reminding you with every carefully chosen word, every cautionary tale, that the only person who can save you is you.
— Kate Durrant
Throughout the impactful, soul-baring essays in A Brief Inhalation, Daragh Fleming shares with the reader personal experiences ranging from the sublime to the surreal. With a twist of deadpan humour and a poetic sensibility, he harnesses a tender honesty to write about navigating love and friendship in the digital age, the trials of burgeoning sexuality and finding connection among strangers abroad. This is a deeply human and intimate collection of memories, ruminations and revelations, penned by a writer whose greatest strength is his willingness to be vulnerable in a world that doesn’t always reward vulnerability.
— Aoife Barry
ABOUT Daragh Fleming:
Daragh Fleming is a writer from Cork, Ireland. He has work published in many literary magazines, including Stand, Southword, and Crannóg. He was shortlisted for the Alpine Fellowship Poetry Prize in 2024, and highly commended for both the Patrick Kavanagh Award and the Fool For Poetry Prize in 2023. He won the Duncairn Flash Competition in 2024. This is his second collection of essays.
154 pages, Paperback
Published March 31, 2025
About the author
Daragh Fleming
10 books44 followersDaragh Fleming is an author and poet from Cork in Ireland. He's weird, but in a good way. His conversational style of writing blends with a unique insight to create some very bizarre stories which not only entertain, but delve into the human condition.
He is informed by a background in psychology, linguistics, and mental health which is evident in his writing. He uses his stories as a means to commentate on the social climate of the modern era in an on-brand, provocative manner.
He is informed by a background in psychology, linguistics, and mental health which is evident in his writing. He uses his stories as a means to commentate on the social climate of the modern era in an on-brand, provocative manner.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 9, 2025
5 stars – A book that made me feel seen… and slightly called out (in the best way).
This is the book that finally broke me—I annotated. I underlined, highlighted, and dog-eared(no shame) like my life depended on it. A Brief Inhalation by Daragh Fleming is one of those rare reads that makes your inner monologue go, “Wait… did he just say what I’ve been trying to say for years?”
Blending essays, memoir, and poetic fragments, Fleming captures the weird, restless pulse of modern life—like trying to meditate on a trampoline. It’s sharp, raw, unexpectedly funny, and emotionally honest without ever feeling heavy-handed. Every page feels like a conversation you didn’t know you needed.
I kept coming back to An Essay on ADHD—not just because it’s brilliant, but because it held up a mirror I wasn’t ready for. I had to stop and highlight: “I am productively unproductive. Every day ends with feeling like I haven’t done enough.” That one? Yeah, that one sat with me for a while.
This is the kind of book you lend to a friend and immediately regret it because you want your copy back—annotations and all.
This is the book that finally broke me—I annotated. I underlined, highlighted, and dog-eared(no shame) like my life depended on it. A Brief Inhalation by Daragh Fleming is one of those rare reads that makes your inner monologue go, “Wait… did he just say what I’ve been trying to say for years?”
Blending essays, memoir, and poetic fragments, Fleming captures the weird, restless pulse of modern life—like trying to meditate on a trampoline. It’s sharp, raw, unexpectedly funny, and emotionally honest without ever feeling heavy-handed. Every page feels like a conversation you didn’t know you needed.
I kept coming back to An Essay on ADHD—not just because it’s brilliant, but because it held up a mirror I wasn’t ready for. I had to stop and highlight: “I am productively unproductive. Every day ends with feeling like I haven’t done enough.” That one? Yeah, that one sat with me for a while.
This is the kind of book you lend to a friend and immediately regret it because you want your copy back—annotations and all.
February 19, 2025
'I could be in the present, but I’m hyper-focused on the future. And I’m not the only one. In fact, the majority are in this boat with me. Rather than appreciating the now, we’re anticipating the hypothetical better tomorrow’
A Brief Inhalation by Daragh Fleming publishes March 31st with the award winning indie publisher Broken Sleep Books. Daragh is a writer and a poet but he is also a mental health advocate who is described as being ‘dedicated to reshaping the way we talk about mental health.’ I have previously read Lonely Boy (2022) by Daragh Fleming which I stated was a reflection, a memoir, a truth and A Brief Inhalation offers the reader that same level of honesty and disclosure.
‘You and I, and everyone you know are creative intrinsically because we are human’
Daragh Fleming moved to Spain in order to get some headspace and to focus on his writing. With this powerful new collection, we get insights into his most vulnerable thoughts and feelings over a period of transition in his life. As a voice for mental health, Daragh, in recent years, has never shied away from publicly speaking about his personal experiences. Through various talks and workshops he has assisted many to understand the importance of looking after ourselves and looking out for others. Daragh continuously pursues to normalise mental health issues, encouraging others to open up and be honest in a world where it is so very easy to hide behind the artificial screen of social media, in the past and using other props.
‘When we live in the moment, the rest of our lives cannot affect us. The past cannot haunt, and the future cannot loom over.’
Daragh’s writing resonates with many of us and I think one of the reasons for this is that he is reflecting what many of us fear to acknowledge. The daily struggle can be quite difficult for many but opening up about it can be even more difficult. As Daragh traverses across parts of Europe staying in hostels, making friends with strangers, falling in love and capturing the wonder in the everyday, he takes the reader on a reflective and also humorous journey. With a rare honesty, Daragh Fleming is unflinching in describing his thoughts and feelings at any given moment. He sees beauty in the ordinary and his refreshing take on his own, and others, lives and ambitions is raw and deeply personal.
‘Good writing, good art, brings us directly into the present mindfully. We are emerged in only the moment that lays before us now’
As a poet and a writer, Daragh views the world through a slightly different lens than many, with words that enforce a stop, a brief inhalation. His writing expresses a vulnerability that offers a powerful connection to his readers. It is unfiltered, intimate and reflective. As he navigates his own personal path, he is unafraid to let us in to walk beside him for a short while, to immerse ourselves into his world and into his mind. With an underlying profound message of hope and resilience, A Brief Inhalation offers solace and inspiration. A contemplative and contemporary collection, A Brief Inhalation is a soul-searching, sensitive and meditative examination of life written with the sharp and understated hand of a poet. A rich and generous read.
‘We are not yet capable of healing each other through some sort of shared telepathy. Plants can do this. We however can help one another along. Words are our source. We can communicate and express our emotions. We can reach across the divide like no other creature can, and we can let one another know we are together. We are one in the same and will get through whatever needs getting through. Perhaps this is our osmosis. Our ability to use words. Delicately. Imperfectly. Perhaps this is how we help one another to heal’
A Brief Inhalation by Daragh Fleming publishes March 31st with the award winning indie publisher Broken Sleep Books. Daragh is a writer and a poet but he is also a mental health advocate who is described as being ‘dedicated to reshaping the way we talk about mental health.’ I have previously read Lonely Boy (2022) by Daragh Fleming which I stated was a reflection, a memoir, a truth and A Brief Inhalation offers the reader that same level of honesty and disclosure.
‘You and I, and everyone you know are creative intrinsically because we are human’
Daragh Fleming moved to Spain in order to get some headspace and to focus on his writing. With this powerful new collection, we get insights into his most vulnerable thoughts and feelings over a period of transition in his life. As a voice for mental health, Daragh, in recent years, has never shied away from publicly speaking about his personal experiences. Through various talks and workshops he has assisted many to understand the importance of looking after ourselves and looking out for others. Daragh continuously pursues to normalise mental health issues, encouraging others to open up and be honest in a world where it is so very easy to hide behind the artificial screen of social media, in the past and using other props.
‘When we live in the moment, the rest of our lives cannot affect us. The past cannot haunt, and the future cannot loom over.’
Daragh’s writing resonates with many of us and I think one of the reasons for this is that he is reflecting what many of us fear to acknowledge. The daily struggle can be quite difficult for many but opening up about it can be even more difficult. As Daragh traverses across parts of Europe staying in hostels, making friends with strangers, falling in love and capturing the wonder in the everyday, he takes the reader on a reflective and also humorous journey. With a rare honesty, Daragh Fleming is unflinching in describing his thoughts and feelings at any given moment. He sees beauty in the ordinary and his refreshing take on his own, and others, lives and ambitions is raw and deeply personal.
‘Good writing, good art, brings us directly into the present mindfully. We are emerged in only the moment that lays before us now’
As a poet and a writer, Daragh views the world through a slightly different lens than many, with words that enforce a stop, a brief inhalation. His writing expresses a vulnerability that offers a powerful connection to his readers. It is unfiltered, intimate and reflective. As he navigates his own personal path, he is unafraid to let us in to walk beside him for a short while, to immerse ourselves into his world and into his mind. With an underlying profound message of hope and resilience, A Brief Inhalation offers solace and inspiration. A contemplative and contemporary collection, A Brief Inhalation is a soul-searching, sensitive and meditative examination of life written with the sharp and understated hand of a poet. A rich and generous read.
‘We are not yet capable of healing each other through some sort of shared telepathy. Plants can do this. We however can help one another along. Words are our source. We can communicate and express our emotions. We can reach across the divide like no other creature can, and we can let one another know we are together. We are one in the same and will get through whatever needs getting through. Perhaps this is our osmosis. Our ability to use words. Delicately. Imperfectly. Perhaps this is how we help one another to heal’
October 30, 2025
Beautiful book from start to finish. Each essay felt like your friend telling you a story but you got to experience their inner monologue and emotions while they’re telling you.
Favourite stories were:
To Olot with Love
Dead Man’s Tails
Both After Prague and After Lyon
Favourite stories were:
To Olot with Love
Dead Man’s Tails
Both After Prague and After Lyon
Read
January 8, 2026Real, Honest, Impactful.
I'm fairly sure at this stage I may have read everything Daragh Fleming has published. I would certainly consider him my favourite Irish writer and poet.
A Brief inhalation is real, raw, honest and impactful. This is a running theme throughout all of the author's works.
Thank you to the author for a #gifted copy of the ebook. As I'm a big fan, I bought a copy of the book to add to my permanent library.
I don't think there is anyone out there that can't relate to some part of the author's writing. Daragh does spoken word poems from time to time on his Instagram page which are moving and honest.
I have previously posted reviews of the authors books and collections so feel free to check them out.
I'm fairly sure at this stage I may have read everything Daragh Fleming has published. I would certainly consider him my favourite Irish writer and poet.
A Brief inhalation is real, raw, honest and impactful. This is a running theme throughout all of the author's works.
Thank you to the author for a #gifted copy of the ebook. As I'm a big fan, I bought a copy of the book to add to my permanent library.
I don't think there is anyone out there that can't relate to some part of the author's writing. Daragh does spoken word poems from time to time on his Instagram page which are moving and honest.
I have previously posted reviews of the authors books and collections so feel free to check them out.
May 1, 2025
Very enjoyable book of essays. Travel, internal complexities, sparks of love, encounters with festival sesh-heads, and reflections on childhood are just some of the essays Daragh has blessed us with in his book. Honest, and funny, true to his character.
April 17, 2025
Daragh Fleming's writing is clear-eyed, honest and speaks to the soul. This collection of essays is refreshing and original.
July 14, 2025
Truly brilliant. Complex themes of identity, belonging, loss and growing up are dealt with deftly, in a unique mix of genres. Definitely recommend.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews