Unlife

The last prayer
The last tear
The last second
The last step
The last thrill
The last breath

“It is with deep regret
that I inform you
that VCU
and Richmond Police
are investigating
the death
of a student
late Sunday night…
as the result
of what appears to be
a suicide.”

It’s chill lingers
in my chest:
Uncaged
Uncaring
Uncanny
Unclear

Postparty Depression

“Postparty Depression”

You threw the party of the century!
Lights, loose dancing and loud music
overshadows all the internal injuries.

How did your wallet get in the toaster?
Just look at your mother’s coffee table
with condensation rings beside the coaster!

Shhh, stop singing the Swollenwood Blues;
you might wake up the passed out stranger
in your bed that you forgot YOU screwed.

Head throbbing from all the confusion,
you question why the jungle juice dumped
into each crimson cup was a stagnant, stinging solution.

"The Shadow Speaks Truth"

I know those papers are fraud,
I hear the distrust in your reply.

An unfavorable feeling creeps
when you speak of Liberty.
Your tales of tyranny travel
a hallowed hall of Hypocrisy.
This land is polluted by Savages
pregnant with Vanity, perfumed in bloody Death.
And you mock me?
Well, I mock the mockeries:
The joyous Offerings, the humble Prayers,
the proud Parades, the boasting Orations
are all a deception so cold.

A thin veil hides the Guilt in your benefits.

But no, We are inhumane,
a shocking inheritance of Starlight and Stripes;
the abusing irony of the New American Slave.
Allow us a Day of Independence.
Free us from this Nation of Freedom.
And we will rest where the shackles rejoice,
where the last layer of earth reveals your gross Injustice.
We will commit sacrilege in your illuminated temples
for we know the pattern of your ways:

You will come from your Land of Despotism,
rifle-up and creep in from a distance,
searching to save our Charred Souls
from the Hell we already know.


And when your footsteps soil our soil,
we will swell from the shadows and swallow you in Silence.
This very hour is not ours, now be a slave to your own Salvation.

-R.Gibson


*This poem was inspired by an excerpt of Frederick Douglass's "Fourth of July Speech, 1852".



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SRaa3IaY-8

ALLERGY & COLD RELIEF

she is piercings and poetry

snapping fingers like string beans

induced by words that linger

in clothes like cafeteria air

or cigarette smoke

her city has a whooping cough

just curdling phlegm and bless yous

that skip to the other room

where another girl believes

that a sneeze can revive

her sleeping heartbeat

in a graveyard of fairytales

and happy endings

one flatline brushes off

the bugs and bone dust

to bend back into meaning

First Assignment for Tin Salamunic's Design Class

"What is Design?"

     I believe that design is a part of everything around me: the alarm clock that wakes me in the morning, the label that hugs my bottle of orange juice, the chair that supports my body and disperses my weight to the ground, the golden lamp that stands tall on my desk, the room I come back to after the day is done, and the laptop computer I type this paper on. Every material thing that I am dependent on began as an idea and was designed by someone who intrinsically brought it to life. In the Bible, it is taught that God created the Heavens and the Earth. In that sense, God is the Supreme Artist, and all of the universe and it's entrails are apart of God's grand design. Within the range of phenomena I have witnessed on this planet, design begins with Nature. The tectonic plates of the Earth's crust, the cycle of the seasons, the anatomy of plants, and the genetic makeup of animals & human beings, all combine to compose the living, breathing Design of Nature.
     Design in relation to architecture, has been synonymous with humanity on Earth. Each time-weathered block of the Great Pyramids in Egypt, the Doric columns of the Parthenon in Greece, the  Gregorian style White House in Washington DC, the Eiffel Tower of France, the Guggenheim Museum of New York, the Frank Lloyd Wright houses, the bulging domes of the Taj Mahal in India, the astonishing newly renovated Cary Street Gym, and the Franklin Terrace Building are all marvels of architecture that shape the world around me. Design is aesthetically the thought, the action and the result.
     The branch of fashion design has been with me ever since I thought I had fashion sense. Back before I knew how to dress myself, my parents would be the ones who picked out my clothes. Looking back on my baby pictures, I was a hip youngster with my high-top fade haircut, my blue corduroy Osh-Kosh overalls, and my colorful selection of dress shirts. From elementary school to the middle of high school, I was heavily peer-pressured and influenced by the fads of that day. When it came to fashion, I found myself struggling to fit the styles:  either I dressed like a thug (long colored or white tee shirts, a pair of shoes to match each color, baggy jeans, and fitted baseball cap) or like a “preppy white boy”(extra-snug polo shirt, some moccasins, and fitted straight leg jeans).
     My concept of fashion was very limited to what my peers opinions were but after my 2nd year in high school I noticed that buying more clothes was getting expensive and that most people didn't care about what they wore. And being that I fit the “artist” stereotype, I began to experiment with various color schemes in my wardrobe. To my surprise, nobody condemned me for wearing an outfit like: a black logo tee, blue jeans and red shoes. To this day I am still in awe. I don't quite understand how random articles of clothing can work together in agreement, but being at Virginia Commonwealth University I see it everyday. Design is more than just matching clothes by color; it is a product of incessant experimentation and alchemy.
     I have come to believe that design is the sea of controlled chaos that people knowingly and unknowingly submerge themselves in on a daily basis. As a Communication Artist, I hope to learn more of Design beyond its dictionary definition. I want to be able to see it the advertisements tattooed across the places I go, I want to hear its genius in the music and poetry of our times, I want to taste it at that quaint restaurant hidden in the quiet of Richmond, I want to think it when I am kicking out a thumbnail sketch for a future piece of work, I want to feel it in the steaming lights of the galleries of First Fridays, and I want to live it until my rusty soul is done with my body and checks out into the Great Art Studio in the sky.

-Robert Gibson Jr.

Aerodynamic - Daft Punk

This is a funky jam. Get your butter knife and toast.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14xgbeHsJXI

i am in love with this woman...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZfp7Txyk_Y&feature=related

her sophomore album "the sea" will be released in early february of 2010, what an excellent birthday gift for me!