Lara Gibson: a woman who refuses labels. Yet the poet employs them regularly in her work, using modern–– and sometimes arcane–– terminology to sculpt and subvert the identity of today’s vagina-owner. Who is the modern Savant? Who is The Fool blundering through phases of the Tarot? Who is Lara Gibson?
For now, she’s made it clear that she is a blank canvas.
So, with respect to that: Lara Gibson is not a poet. Poet is too dumb, too narrow a label to place on her multifaceted diamond head. But she is piecing words together (a Victoria Frankenstein, MD) twisting and tacking them until their meanings resemble happy little stanzas. They please the ear with their somewhat familiar metre, but more importantly they try and make sense of not only the crossroad–– but The Fool who contemplates it. Effectively, she humanizes our hero whilst distancing us from her. The hero is dirty, crass, vulgar, a wanderer; and yet we feel compelled to sympathize with her.
Lara Gibson has been dubbed by critics as Ginsbergian, but Lara Gibson might attest this for obvious label-related reasons. Though, one doubts that anyone would care to be likened to an alleged pedophile anyways. Besides, her work takes the dead Ginsbergian horse and, rather than beat it, shocks it with a defibrillator until it’s shrivelled heart starts beating once again.
Lara Gibson is not successful. She has amassed a cult following, it’s important to know the difference. She is famous in the side stream, the underground. Known as a champion of the abaissé and the leader of the overture. But she is neither of those things, really. Not so much a leader but a soap-box. A throat for the masses to sing with. A gramophone with a cause.
Lara Gibson refuses labels. So, with respect to that, Lara Gibson is not a rebel. But she’s succeeding in pissing a lot of straight old white men off, so she is undoubtedly something. Whether she likes it or not.
salivant »» 01.