Caoimhe brings poetry to listener’s ears in simple and accessible way

“IT WAS about two years ago when I first had the idea to mould poetry with music, creating tracks that make poetry a listening experience.”

Caoimhe Weakliam is a spoken word poet from Templeogue. Her work takes influence from, and often critiques, the condition of modern society.

Through the form of storytelling narratives, her poems wind through such topics as women’s experiences, contemporary inequalities and loss of connection to nature.

Caoimhe has performed across Ireland at gigs such as the Dublin Fringe Festival, Culture Night and Electric Picnic, while also being featured in Irish media such as The Irish Times, Stellar Magazine and The Echo.

Her debut poetry single, ‘Hiding’, was released in July 2024. She has recently moved to Bergen, Norway.

It is there that she is pursuing poetry projects for release on streaming services, hoping to bring poetry to the listener’s ears in a way that is as simple and accessible as listening to music.

‘Storm’ is a gripping spoken word piece that brings the listener on a journey through reflections of God and nature.

Written in the midst of a rattling storm in Ireland, the poem explores how, when humans become too comfortable with our perceived power over the earth, a storm acts to remind us that we are at the mercy of the elements.

Caoimhe’s performance is set to the backdrop of producer George Mercer’s emotive composition work.

The inspiration from the song came about from a bad storm last year when she went out for a walk in Templeogue.

“I thought, how feeble are these notions of God?”

She arrived home from her walk and wrote this poem over the next couple of days, in that “wonderful flow that comes from utter inspiration”.

She met the “incredibly talented” musician, composer and producer George Mercer, and they recorded the song on Caoimhe’s iPhone in her apartment in Bergen.

At one point, the song was interrupted by Norway testing their national emergency alarm; Caoimhe felt this was an “interesting synchronicity”, since this piece is an “alarm to the world”.

She remarks that the song required a “few intense days of concentrated flow”; she also had to navigate the “relatively new” challenge of working with other musicians as well as the world of streaming services.

‘Storm’ is the first track in an EP project she is working on, which will include four or five poetry and music pieces. She will be working with some Norwegian musicians and producers for these.

She is looking forward to branching outside of the Irish scene. She hopes to be releasing the next poetry track in the coming months.

Alongside this, she is finishing work on a poetry book that she hopes to release in 2026.

Caoimhe would like to thank George Mercer for composing and producing ‘Storm’ and Lise Hendrix for photographing the press photos.

‘Storm’ is currently available to listen to on streaming platforms such as YouTube and Spotify, having been released on August 29.