Breaking Silence with Poet Jacob Sam-La Rose

Jacob’s poetry explores a wide range of themes including identity, culture, prejudice, and family relations. Within his poems are profound messages about the author’s confusion and frustration as a young man, feeling like an “ink blot on a blank page“ (‘Speechless’) amongst his peers, or the feeling unity with others through music, a motif throughout the anthology which ranges from a traditional, cultural setting to a more urban environment, as seen in the poem ‘After Lazerdrome’. As English students, it’s true to say that we often look to find double, or even hidden meanings in each of Jacob’s poems, reflecting on the messages conveyed and how these links back to his upbringing. In addition, Jacob’s breaking of conventions, structurally and poetically, is also of great interest, as these approaches to writing show how him trying to break free of walls and classifications within society, not only within his poetry.

The first poem Jacob discussed was ‘After Lazerdrome’, which tells the story of an intoxicating, almost spiritual experience of clubbing in one of the most diverse nightclubs of the 1990s, Lazerdrome in Peckham Rye, South-East London. The narrator then focuses on the action of ordering a McDonald’s the following morning, counting coin by coin. During his discussion of the poem, JSLR spoke about his adolescent navigation through religious identity, and how many of the boys he grew up around found that music, specifically hip-hop and drum and bass, gave them a new sense of devotion that strict Christian followings seemed to miss.

The next poem from the collection, ‘A Spell for Forgetting a Father’, again revolves around spiritualistic beliefs, but also gives the reader instructions for a spell that will help them to disconnect and be released from their father. In the poem JSLR utilises the Greek myth of Icarus, and his naivety in ignoring his father’s warnings about flying too close to the sun, leading to his death. JSLR also spoke quite openly about his own relationships with both his biological father, and the man he considered to be his father, despite not being related. He spoke about using this spell to accept that your father will always be a part of your heredity, but that this acceptance will also allow you to move on and let go of any hurt or grudge.

The third poem was ‘Turning Darker Still’, in which JSLR very cleverly uses the image of a man solitarily travelling through a harsh, unforgiving desert, to portray his personal struggles with racism and microaggression throughout his life, especially at school, and his individual search for a community that he feels accepted by and belongs to. JSLR uses images of nature and its invasive behaviour to show readers how it feels to be part of a minority group in a divided community, effectively implementing his own firsthand experiences into the entire poem.

Finally, JSLR spoke about ‘Song for a Spent 100W Bulb’. This poem features the story of a lightbulb that, even when unable to produce light, becomes capable of sound. JSLR stated that this was a more introspective way of describing the poetry collection as a whole: having the ability to create and mould your own identity, and to always find a way to make sure your voice is heard, even if it is not seen as conventional.

After this, the visit was unfortunately almost over – but Jacob-Sam La Rose had one last thing to do – sign our copies of Breaking Silence and participate in a Q & A with us all! Many of us were lucky enough to have our copies of the book signed, and we had a very useful 1:1 discussion about writing with Jacob, which gave great insight into his mindset as an author! Overall, this visit really helped to enlighten us about some of the deeper meanings of Jacob-Sam La Rose’s poetry.

Thank you to Jacob for visiting Esher Sixth Form College!