One from the heart...
Solomon is an enigmatic and popular figure in the poetry scene. He has a way of quietly sliding into shadowy spaces at the back of rooms. Before taking the stage, holding space with a deep breath, head cocked as if in a question. All part of an intuitive act that brings audiences to hush. What follows is a sensual experience as he massages words into minds accompanied by mmms, hmmms and gasps. Asking things like “if I create waves of goosebumps, is that too explicit?”. We prepared ourselves to have our imagination aroused and sat down with Solomon to learn more about him, his work and why words are his way of life.
Tell us about your creative journey
My poetic journey started when I came to the UK and started to learn English. I started to write and read poetry because it was short, simple and also descriptive. I love Shakespeare and Blake. They taught me the beauty of the English language. Jane Austin, Charles Dickens and George Orwell - if I'm honest... no one's yet done it better.
After posting my poems online I then just fell out of love for it all after GCSE. I completely lost touch with English and writing in general for about 5+ years. I went through my design path, athlete path and whilst unexpectedly beginning my mental health journey also randomly came across Chloe Carterr With Two R's poetry on Voices In Power, a USA platform that had collaborated with the UK at the time. I was stunned. Poetry? Spoken? In public? And people do this ? When I tell you, Chloe without her knowing, completely changed and introduced me to this life. To call her my friend now is a blessing.
Man, I love poetry so much I can cry writing about this because God it has helped me in ways I couldn't imagine. In 2023 I was on Instagram scrolling reels for about an hour to find the V.I.P (Voices In Power) page and I saw they had an event on in the July. After seeing that, I wrote my first ever spoken word piece Generational Love which is probably one of my favourite pieces and a piece that many people love most. I blessed my first stage with this piece - from there two months later I had my first headline which lead to more features, more open mics and more places.
You began your journey as a record-breaking (and holding!) speed skater. Due to injury, you had to put that dream aside and forge a new path. What advice would you give to someone who is facing a rejection, or has to reassess their dreams and ambitions due to something beyond their control?
In the first month of the 2023/24 season I got injured. Everything that happens is a part of Gods plan. I think it's that simple. Even if you don't believe in God then believe that all that happens is faith. Skating was all I ever knew and worked for since I was 3. I was in love with it and my future was all planned by skating. I knew at 18 I was moving to Nottingham where the National Team was and there was no other vision - nothing else was in the picture for me. However, in the first month I got injured. I realised I wasn't going to make the team and my dream took another 4+ year cycle. Sport is a deadly world. Training hours upon hours. Abusing your body and mind to the extreme for 40 seconds. It can make or break you and you have no control over it. So I left. Packed my bags and within a month I went back home to London and applied for university. I say all this with the message - rejection happens in the most brutal of ways but it is all about what you do after that matters. I have been my happiest in this past year doing spoken word more so than in my 10+ years perusing skating. Never a dig at the skating world. It just didn't provide me with what I needed and THAT IS OKAY.
You recently collaborated with Tifany MarSah on The Language of Roses – how did this come about?
Yes I did. We are all still on such a high a month later! First and foremost I have to give thanks to Meta and Tunay two poets in the scene who have an event called "Double Or Nothing". I got a call from Tunay: "I want you to headline the first ever Double Or Nothing, who would you collaborate with if you could?" I gave him three names ,"but it is clear the obvious one is Tifany." Tifany is the fourth person I ever saw perform spoken word, the second headline I watched and one of the first friends I had in the scene. I love Tifany's writing and I believe our chemistry was stronger then the subject itself. We finished our headline and it was the first time I cried since skating. I was crying because I saw and found a new love and it was performing. I saw the opportunity to push the limits of spoken word. I saw the beauty Tiffany and I could create.
I will forever be grateful for not just Tifany but Tunay and Meta for the opportunity because without them it wouldn't have been birthed. The next day, I told Tifany that I wanted to do a 1 hour show and that we had a month and a half to do it. I believed in her and I believed in us. I pitched The Language Of Roses and asked if she's in and she said:"if you believe, I believe ."
Can you take us through the process of coming up with an idea with Tifany, all the way through to opening night?
Man that's a long one. But I had a vision, I pitched how I wanted it to look like and the journey I wanted it to take. Tifany challenged it and allowed me to think about things more logistically and evaluate if it even made sense. We sat down at the royal ballet and she said: "Okay, The Language Of Roses, show, take on a journey, life of a plant, life of a rose from seed, to stem to flower to blossoming" Once Tifany said that we were on a roll. I had already written a story that I wanted to share called 'Coffee, Tea and Biscuits' and slowly it just all puzzled itself into place. With the addition of pianist Tess Lina we were directed in what would be best for our different flows and poetry. I think it's important to say I have a very limited remembering of how it all went and the order in which it all came. The process and work created wouldn't exist if it wasn't for everyone's input. We bounced back and forth with ideas, lines, poetry and how the show would look bit by bit.
We knew we wanted to create a show and imprint a Poetic Experience from beginning to end. And we did exactly that. All because of chemistry, love, mutual respect and faith.
What advice can you give to people who are thinking of putting on a performance? What practical tips can you offer?
My advice is if your going to do it, do it but with a purpose. Don't half do it, don't underestimate yourself or the people that decide to join you on the journey. I never doubted what we did or were doing. Just like design, I go by the same thing and line in life, "if you can see it, you can make it".
It's our first time doing everything in life so be ready for disagreement and backlash. Be ready for rejection, be ready for a tough ride... producing, writing, rehearsing and performing a show can be very hard emotionally, physically and even mentally. You are doing it for you and no one else. That's my advice; do it for you, believe and be intentional.
Back to your poetry - Is your work reactions or interpretations of past experiences or do you take flight into imagination. Are you looking inward, or outward?
I guess a bit of both - I am a writer and a storyteller. Indeed I have gone through experiences but I never allow my poetry to be 100% about 'me'. Maybe 20% me then the rest is reactions and observations to what I've seen. I can write about something I haven't yet ever felt or experienced (is it difficult? Yes.) It isn't to disrespect or misinterpret something but instead just to make people know they aren't alone. The emotions people feel are somewhere or somehow being seen and heard by others. I write Romantic Poetry because there are hundreds of endless ways to love someone. And even if it's as simple as saying:"You are my rose in a garden full of daisies." To the person hearing it, it still gives them hope that there is someone who will one day love them in such a way. I write for all the things I believe people deserve to hear, should hear, the things that even at times I don't hear.
Do you set aside time to create, or can you get into the required head-space as and when inspiration or opportunity arrives?
Being honest, I just write. I love just being outside - that's my writing mind. But it definitely helps to be in a good space. But my writing all happens outside. Bars, clubs, monumental spaces, libraries and book stores. I am an observer and I observe. It's me, my pen and I'm in control.
I am inspired by people and the world around me. The millions of moments happening all in one single second. A new life every couple seconds and also ones that are lost, you are where you are... insanity! I love it all! Man, I don't know, I get so excited talking about people. People inspire me and I love it all.
How can art help us?
Art can help us in all ways imaginable; physically, mentally, spiritually, sexually, intimately and emotionally. To reach whoever it needs to in that current moment in a specific way - the emotion you felt, the anger you want to express, the feeling you can't explain can all be unfolded by an artist. It's all about connection.
Art connects with us in a way to remind us that we are not alone.
Has your art positively helped your mental health in any way?
Such an amazing question. I struggled with my mental health before I started poetry and wrote my first mental health piece called 'I'm sorry'. But before that, I had a podcast that was on pause for two years because of my anxiety which disturbed my ability to talk into mics or public conversations. Pushing myself to that in July of 2023 at Resonance Poetry Collective, where I stuttered, paused, shook and, looking back, I can hear the doubt and fear in every word I said that night. Marina Scott and Jack Emsden, who run RPC supported me and made me achieve something I never thought I would. I thank them to this day. My poetry started with them and they are the reason I continued. I am back and I am confident. I'm honoured, grateful and blessed.
What advice would you give to anyone out there who is starting out on their poetry journey
Try to understand why you do what you want to do. Exposing vulnerability on a stage for strangers to judge is a very brave thing to do.
Use poetry and your vulnerability to support your purpose more than anyone else's.
Do it with patience and with the idea to discover something about yourself. Poetry is beautiful so keep on going. Learn your pieces, enjoy the mistakes, the freezing moments on stage and the fear and all that comes with it. Be in the moment and most importantly, if someone doesn't understand why and how you do things then that is okay. As long as you do it doesn't matter. You will never get the attention of the whole room. All you need is one person.
So keep going, be you and enjoy the scene because it is here for you.
We're constantly on the look out for new artists, creatives and initiatives to feature in TheNeverZine - so if you are, or know someone who is going their own way and doing their own thing on their own terms and would be a good fit to feature please smash that button below and get in contact. By talking to each other, and sharing our journeys, ideas and insights on creativity, art, mental health and resilience we can all create, share and thrive together. Nice thought that.
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