CANR
WORK TITLE: You Better Be Lightning
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://andreagibson.org/
CITY: Boulder
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
LAST VOLUME:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born August 13, 1975, in Calais, ME; died from ovarian cancer, July 14, 2025, in Longmont, CO; daughter of Mark (a postal worker) and Shirley (a secretary) Gibson; married Megan Falley (a poet).
EDUCATION:Graduated from Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, 1997.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Spoken-word poet and activist. Worked as a Montessori teacher until 2005; fulltime poet, 2005-25. Named Colorado Poet Laureate, 2023. Featured in the documentary, Come See Me in the Good Light, 2025.
AWARDS:Four-time Denver Grand Slam Champion; fourth place, National Poetry Slam, 2004; third place, Individual World Poetry Slam, 2006, 2007; winner, Women of the World Poetry Slam, 2008; Independent Publisher Book Award winner, 2019, 2021.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Andrea Gibson was an American spoken-word poet and activist whose work centered on gender norms, social justice, politics, and concerns of the LGBTQ community. They were born and raised in Maine but settled in Colorado in 1999, where an open mic event inspired them to cultivate their words through poetry. Gibson left their job as a Montessori teacher in 2005 and focused their efforts on being a fulltime poet.
Gibson performed regularly at Take Back the Night events and were active with gender and LGBTQ issues advocacy groups. They were a four-time Denver Grand Slam Champion. In 2006 and 2007, they placed third at the Individual World Poetry Slam and fourth at the 2004 National Poetry Slam. In 2008 they won the inaugural Women of the World Poetry Slam. They were also a two-time recipient of an Independent Publisher Book Award. Gibson was the author of numerous poetry collections, including Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns, The Madness Vase, Pansy, Take Me with You, Lord of the Butterflies, and You Better Be Lightning.
In an interview in the Rough Cut Press website, Gibson spoke with Billy Lezra about the importance of sound in their creative process. Gibson declared: “I’m a spoken word artist through and through. Meaning, I write every single thing I write to live out loud. The sound of my poems is as important to me as the sound of a song might be to a musician. Even lately, as I’ve been writing more essays and stories for my newsletter, I’ll commonly record myself speaking them so I know how they sound aloud. If they don’t sound right, I’ll rework the writing until they learn how to live in the air.”
In the same interview, Gibson also discussed about the emphasis they place on listening intently. Gibson conceded that listening is “a very physical experience, an intention of actually relaxing my body, specifically the area around my heart, until I feel a less guarded version of myself is present. In that state, I’m more curiosity than I am knowing. I’m more wonder than I am doubt. I’m more open than I am critical.”
Colorado Governor Jared Polis selected Gibson to become the state’s tenth poet laureate in 2023. On the Colorado Public Radio website, Megan Verlee recorded Polis as having stated that “Andrea’s voice holds a fierce conviction in inspiring others to pursue art and take action toward solving social issues and they personify our Colorado for All spirit.” Gibson talked with Paolo Zialcita on Colorado Public Radio about how they hoped they could influence how others saw poetry in this position. They vowed: “I want to come up with new and inventive ways to help a larger population fall in love and appreciate poetry. I want everyone to have a poem that they can go to like you would with a song.”
Gibson died from ovarian cancer at the age of forty-nine and chronicled her end-of-life journey on social media and through various poems. Her life and successes were also chronicled in the 2025 Sundance Film Festival documentary, Come See Me in the Good Light. The announcement of her death read: “Though Andrea desperately wished to have lived a longer life, they could not have possibly lived a fuller one. In an article in GO magazine, Sassafras Patterdale shared of Gibson’s death that “the world is darker without their light, and the retaliation is that there will be no more books, poems, or albums coming from them. I’ll be watching the moon, which was so often featured in their poetry, and thinking about the light their stories brought to my life and the lives of so many.”
Gibson’s poetry collection Take Me with You is divided into three sections: “On Love,” “On the World,” and “On Becoming.” Across the collection, Gibson considers themes, such as love, family, acceptance, gender, self-worth, and how politics and religion impact individuals and humanity as a whole. Gibson challenges the status quo and addresses how to overcome hate, separation, and judgment when striving to be one’s true self. Writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, Stefanie N. Hughes remarked that “the complexity of this work makes it suited to sophisticated readers. Those who enjoy Gibson’s spoken-word performances will not be disappointed.”
With Lord of the Butterflies, Gibson’s fifth collection of poems, Gibson presents a range of performance poetry. The poems range from narrating a visit to an ex-lover’s new apartment and digitally editing a mug shot to recalling the shooting at the nightclub in Orlando and its aftermath. She also addresses panic attacks in a light-hearted manner, online dating challenges, gun violence, and concerns of the LGBTQ community.
A Publishers Weekly contributor suggested that “some of these poems feel a little too familiar.” However, the reviewer found Lord of the Butterflies to be “notable for its energy and diverse array of voice-driven poems.” The reviewer also labeled the poems as being “heartfelt.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, November 19, 2018, review of Lord of the Butterflies.
Voice of Youth Advocates, February 1, 2018, Stefanie N. Hughes, review of Take Me with You.
ONLINE
Colorado Public Radio website, https://www.cpr.org/ (September 6, 2023), Paolo Zialcita, “Colorado Has a New Poet Laureate: Boulder’s Andrea Gibson.”
Rough Cut Press website, https://roughcutpress.com/ (August 24, 2025), Billy Lezra, author interview.
OBITUARIES
Colorado Public Radio website, https://www.cpr.org/ (July 14, 2025), Megan Verlee, “Colorado’s Poet Laureate Has Died.”
Deadline, https://deadline.com/ (July 15, 2025), Greg Evans, “Andrea Gibson Dies: Poet Featured in Award-Winning 2025 Sundance Documentary Was 49.”
GO, https://gomag.com/ (July 15, 2025), Sassafras Patterdale, “Remembering Andrea Gibson, the Poet Who Touched My Heart.”
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Andrea Gibson
Born Andrea Faye Gibson
August 13, 1975
Calais, Maine, U.S.
Died July 14, 2025 (aged 49)
Longmont, Colorado, U.S.
Alma mater Saint Joseph's College of Maine
Known for
Spoken word poetryactivism
Notable work
You Better Be LightningLord of the ButterfliesTake Me with YouHey Galaxy
Spouse Megan Falley
Awards
Denver Grand Slam Champion (4×)
Women of the World Poetry Slam champion (2008)
Honors Poet Laureate of Colorado
Website andreagibson.org
Andrea Faye Gibson (August 13, 1975 – July 14, 2025) was an American poet and activist. Their[a] poetry focused on gender norms, politics, social justice, LGBTQ topics, life, and mortality. Gibson was appointed as the Poet Laureate of Colorado in 2023.
Early life and education
Andrea Faye Gibson was born on August 13, 1975, in Calais, Maine, where they grew up.[2][3] Their father, Mark, worked for the post office and their mother, Shirley, was a secretary at a technical college. They have one sister, Laura. Gibson's parents were observant Baptists, and Gibson's upbringing was strictly religious and socially conservative.[2]
Gibson attended Saint Joseph's College of Maine, a Catholic private school in Standish, Maine.[2][4] Gibson attended on a basketball scholarship, and graduated in 1997 with an English degree.[2]
Gibson lived for a time with a girlfriend in New Orleans, and the two moved in 1999 to Boulder, Colorado.[5] Gibson went to their first open mic event at the Mercury Cafe in Denver, where they were inspired to become a spoken word artist.[6] In 2005, Gibson left their job as a Montessori teacher and became a full-time poet.[7]
Poetry
Gibson's poetry focuses on gender norms, politics, social justice, and LGBTQ topics.[8] After their cancer diagnosis, Gibson also began writing poetry on topics including depression, illness, life, and mortality.[9] Gibson helped to drive a resurgence in the popularity of spoken word poetry in the mid-2000s.[2]
In 2008, Gibson published their first book of poetry, Pole Dancing To Gospel Hymns.[10] This was followed by The Madness Vase and Pansy, all published by Write Bloody Publishing.[10][11] Gibson also wrote and published Take Me with You, a book of quotes and phrases. In 2018, they published Lord of the Butterflies.[12]
Gibson's album Yellowbird incorporated music with spoken word. Confronting fear was a theme in poems of their following album, Flower Boy. Gibson also released Truce in 2013, followed by Hey, Galaxy in 2018.[12] In total, Gibson wrote seven poetry books and published seven albums.[10][2]
Gibson cited Sonya Renee Taylor, Derrick Brown, Anis Mojgani, Patricia Smith, and Mary Oliver as their influences.[13] Gibson toured heavily, despite suffering from stage fright.[2] They often performed poems at Button Poetry.[14]
Activism
In addition to using poetry to provide social and political commentary on gender and LGBTQ issues, Gibson was involved with many activist groups, and also performed at Take Back the Night events.[15] For about a decade, Gibson performed with Vox Feminista, a "performance tribe of radical feminists bent on social change through cultural revolution".[16][17][18]
In 2019, Gibson collaborated with producer Sarah Megyesy and musician Ani DiFranco to produce a video for the poem "America, Reloading", which discusses gun violence in the United States.[19] "It's my hope that it will inspire direct action, conscious organizing, and more informed discussions between people with varying opinions about the most compassionate way forward", Gibson said.[20]
Gibson worked with the national Power to the Patients movement to pressure hospitals to publish prices online.[21]
Awards and honors
Gibson was a four-time Denver Grand Slam Champion.[10] They placed fourth in the 2004 National Poetry Slam and third in the 2006 and 2007 Individual World Poetry Slam.[22] Gibson was the first person to win the Women of the World Poetry Slam in 2008.[10] Gibson won the Independent Publisher Book Awards twice, in 2019 and 2021.[23] They were a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist three times.[10]
In September 2023, Gibson was appointed Colorado's Poet Laureate by Governor Jared Polis.[24]
Personal life
Marriage and relationships
After seven years of dating, Gibson and fellow poet Megan Falley announced their engagement in August 2022,[25] and later married.[10]
Gender identity
Gibson was genderqueer[9] and used the pronouns they/them/theirs.[26] Many of their poems are about gender identity, such as "Swing Set" and "Andrew".[27] Gibson said, regarding gender, "I don't necessarily identify within a gender binary. I've never in my life really felt like a woman and I've certainly never felt like a man. I look at gender on a spectrum and I feel somewhere on that spectrum that's not landing on either side of that."[16]
Regarding appellation, Gibson expressed affinity for a variety of names, stating "The names my loved ones call me that I love being called: Andrea. Andrew. Andy. Anderson. Dre. Gibby. Gib. Gibbs. Gibba. Sam. Faye. Pangee."[1]
Illness and death
In 2016, Gibson stated they had chronic Lyme disease since at least 2010, and spoke about their experience with physical suffering and difficulty accessing care and treatment.[28]
Gibson was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in August 2021. On August 2, 2022, they canceled a scheduled tour due to a recurrence of the cancer.[29] They announced a further recurrence in May 2023 on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast with Glennon Doyle.[30]
Gibson and their wife were the subjects of the documentary Come See Me in the Good Light, which documented their marriage and how they dealt with Gibson's terminal cancer diagnosis. Directed by Ryan White and produced by comedian Tig Notaro, the film won the Festival Film Favorite Award at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.[31][21] Gibson co-wrote a song titled "Salt Then Sour Then Sweet" for the documentary, with executive producers Sara Bareilles and Brandi Carlile.[32][33]
Gibson died of ovarian cancer on July 14, 2025, aged 49, at their home in Longmont, Colorado.[2]
Works
Discography
Bullets and Windchimes (2003)[34]
Swarm (2004)[35]
When the Bough Breaks (2006)[12]
Yellowbird (2009)[36]
Flower Boy (2011)[12]
Truce (2013)[17]
Hey Galaxy (2018)[12]
Books
Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns (2008, Write Bloody Publishing; ISBN 978-1-935904-89-2)[10]
The Madness Vase (2012, Write Bloody Publishing; ISBN 978-1-935904-38-0)[10]
Pansy (2015, Write Bloody Publishing; ISBN 978-1-938912-98-6)[11]
Take Me with You (2018, Plume; ISBN 978-0-7352-1951-9)[10]
Lord of the Butterflies (2018, Button Poetry; ISBN 978-1-943735-42-6)[37]
How Poetry Can Change Your Heart (with Megan Falley, 2019, Chronicle Books; ISBN 978-1-4521-7180-7)[10]
You Better Be Lightning (2021, Button Poetry; ISBN 978-1-943735-99-0)[38][39][40]
No bio.
Colorado has a new poet laureate: Boulder’s Andrea Gibson
By Paolo Zialcita
·
Sep. 6, 2023, 11:57 am
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Boulder poet Andrea Gibson.
Andrea Gibson, a Boulder-based artist, was unveiled as Colorado’s next poet laureate Wednesday at Boulder’s Chautauqua Park.
Gibson writes about many topics, including love, mental health and social justice. Their queer and non-binary identity also shines through in much of their work, and has also been inspired by their experience undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer after being diagnosed two years ago.
Gibson, who was born in Maine, has called Boulder home since 1999. They are a four-time Denver poetry Grand Slam champion, as well as the author of six full-length collections of poetry. They’ve competed in national and international poetry slam competitions.
Gibson is replacing outgoing state Poet Laureate Bobby LeFebre, an award-winning poet, artist, and writer with roots in the San Luis Valley. The position of the poet laureate was created to promote poetry, literacy, and literature through readings and other events.
“I want to come up with new and inventive ways to help a larger population fall in love and appreciate poetry. I want everyone to have a poem that they can go to like you would with a song. Poetry can be the vehicle that allows us to know each other and expand humanity. That’s what I hope to help do with this role,” Gibson said in a statement.
Colorado poet laureates serve four-year terms and provide reports to the governor on the impact and success of the program every year. Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book and Colorado Creative Industries pays laureates a $5,000 honorarium and covers up to $5,000 for public presentation travel expenses.
Gibson was among four finalists nominated for the 2023-2027 term. The finalists also included Dominique Christina, Meca'Ayo Coleman, and Franklin Cruz. A panel of former laureates and poetry leaders reviewed nominees and passed recommendations to Gov. Jared Polis, who made the final decision.
Poet Bobby LeFebre Reflects On Gentrification In The Denver Neighborhood Where He Grew Up
While welcoming Gibson as the new poet laureate Wednesday, Gov. Polis thanked the outgoing LeFebre, the youngest-ever Colorado Poet Laureate and first person of color to hold the position.
“I want to thank Bobby for four years of service. When Bobby was appointed to this position, he embraced it fully. And over the last four years, he has represented our state and the arts better than we could’ve ever imagined,” Polis said in a statement.
Since the position was created in 1919, nine people have served as Colorado’s Poet Laureate. Gibson will be the 10th person to hold the position.
Colorado’s Poet Laureate has died
By Megan Verlee
·
Jul. 14, 2025, 12:55 pm
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Courtesy Coco Aramaki
FILE – Boulder poet Andrea Gibson.
Colorado’s poet laureate, Andrea Gibson of Boulder, died at their home early Monday, July 14, from ovarian cancer. They were 49 years old.
A post on Gibson’s Instagram account announcing their death included a quote from the poet: “Whenever I leave this world, whether it’s 60 years from now, I wouldn’t want anyone to say I lost some battle. I’ll be a winner that day.”
Gov. Jared Polis named Gibson Colorado’s 10th poet laureate in 2023.
“Andrea’s voice holds a fierce conviction in inspiring others to pursue art and take action toward solving social issues and they personify our Colorado for All spirit,” Polis said in a statement about the appointment. “I know Andrea will be a strong advocate for the arts and art education as a way to bring us together, has a strong desire for unity and to bring people together through poetry.”
In their own post about taking on the mantle of poet laureate, Gibson wrote that they started participating in poetry readings as a way of meeting people after moving to Colorado.
“I was absolutely terrified. My hands were shaking so much my voice couldn’t be heard over the rattling of the paper I was holding. But I was hooked, and the following week I bussed down to my first poetry slam at the Mercury Cafe in Denver. The room was lit with soft candles, and the people were just as warm. I never felt so welcomed and at home anywhere,” wrote Gibson.
Gibson wrote that they were initially worried about accepting the post because their health would limit their ability to do in-person events, and afraid they might not live through their two-year term. But they decided to take the role in part to open up possibilities for more chronically ill and disabled poets.
“I’ve been very public about my cancer journey, not because I want people to know that I’m mortal, but because I so badly want others to know that they are. Knowing that I could die any day saved my life. Understanding, really understanding the brevity of this existence, has given me more gratitude, awe, and joy than I thought would be possible for me in this lifetime. I wish that joy for everyone. (Minus the cancer.),” they wrote.
In a statement mourning Gibson’s passing, the governor’s office noted the poet laureate is chosen by the governor from finalists selected by a panel of former laureates and other accomplished poets. The office is awarded based on the poet’s “artistic excellence, a demonstrated history of community service in the advancement of poetry, and the ability to present poetry effectively.”
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story had the wrong day of the week for Gibson's death. They died early on Monday morning.
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I’m more wonder than I am doubt
In Conversation with Andrea Gibson: Part II
Billy Lezra
ANDREA GIBSON (they/them/theirs) is a queer author of five full-length collections of poetry, including Lord of the Butterflies (Button Poetry 2018) which sold over 20,000 copies worldwide. Winner of The Independent Publishers Award in 2019, Andrea is also a three-time Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist. In 2017, Penguin Books published Take Me With You, an illustrated collection of Gibson’s most beloved quotes, and in 2019, Chronicle Books published their first non-fiction endeavor, How Poetry Can Change Your Heart. The winner of the first Women’s World Poetry Slam, Gibson has gone on to be featured on BBC, Air America, CSpan, and regularly sells out large capacity venues all over the world. Gibson has also released seven full-length albums of spoken word. Their most recent book, You Better Be Lightning, is now available.
Website | Instagram @andrewgibby | Tumblr andrewgibby | Facebook @AndreaGibsonPoetry | Twitter @andreagibson
What is the last thing you wrote?
The last thing I wrote was an essay about learning to love being wrong, and why being right is boring. It’s something I think about constantly—how much of this world would change for the better if we were collectively more interested in growing and learning than we were in our own rightness. Attachment to rightness instantly shuts down vital conversations. I imagine a world where folks are thrilled about the possibility of having their minds and hearts changed every single day, and that world is so beautiful.
What brings you joy?
I think most folks who follow my work these days know I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer this summer, and have spent the last months doing chemotherapy. I would have previously never imagined I could find so much joy throughout a time like this, but I’ve been flooded with it– simply because I spend so much less time thinking about the past or the future. What is right in front of me at any given second is what I naturally pay attention to most these days, and I’ve found there is so much sweetness in a moment truly lived. Prior to my diagnosis, I was pretty consistently somewhere else: worrying about the future, or aching about the past. I’d spent over a decade trying and failing to break that pattern, and then suddenly there was no other option but to be, just be. And in that being I have come to treasure being alive in a very new way. So much is precious to me that wasn’t before.
What did it mean for you to see an image of a moon on the cover of YOU BETTER BE LIGHTNING?
I love this question as I just yesterday gifted myself a telescope so I could get a better view of my one and only long-distance love: the moon. At the beginning of the design process for the book, I asked Amy Law, the cover designer, to create an image in which the impossible was made possible. I had no idea what Amy would come up with, but when I received the image of a person lassoing the moon I started running throughout my house screaming with joy. I’m pretty certain I wrote back something like —- “This is my favorite cover ever! And by that I mean my favorite cover of any book ever printed IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!!”
For this collection, you said: “I wanted to write something from the best of me. Not “best” as in craft or skill—but from the part of my heart I most trust.” How did you come to find this part of your heart, this trust?
Thanks to years of therapy when I take a minute to touch into my emotional state I can pretty easily determine if I’m operating from a place of clarity, or reactivity. If I’m feeling reactive my lens is almost certainly being fogged up by old wounds, past traumas. With ‘You Better Be Lightning’ I didn’t want to write from that place, so even if I was feeling a little bit edgy I’d step away from my writing desk and wait for the fog to clear. That’s not to suggest that’s the only healing way to write. Many people find a great deal of comfort and release writing through the edge, giving voice to the wound. I respect that and it’s been helpful to me in the past, but it wasn’t what this new collection was about for me. I wanted the softest part of my heart to write these poems. That’s not to say they’re all happy and that’s not to say there aren’t angry poems in the collection. There are. But I’d have to be able to feel, really feel, the love beneath the anger to give them a home in the book.
Song and voice are themes that echo in your work. How important is sound to you, within your creative process?
I’m a spoken word artist through and through. Meaning, I write every single thing I write to live out loud. The sound of my poems is as important to me as the sound of a song might be to a musician. Even lately, as I’ve been writing more essays and stories for my newsletter, I’ll commonly record myself speaking them so I know how they sound aloud. If they don’t sound right, I’ll rework the writing until they learn how to live in the air.
You’ve mentioned that writing involves listening: what do you think makes a good listener?
For me, it starts with solidifying in myself a basic assumption that I have so much more to learn. After that, it’s a very physical experience, an intention of actually relaxing my body, specifically the area around my heart, until I feel a less guarded version of myself is present. In that state, I’m more curiosity than I am knowing. I’m more wonder than I am doubt. I’m more open than I am critical.
In our last conversation, you said, “to not run away from is where I find hope.” What does it mean for you to stay, or, to not run away?
There is a lyric in a Brandi Carlile song that goes, “You can dance in a hurricane, but only if you’re standing in the eye.” So much possibility exists in the moments we choose to be with the truth. To stand in the very center of what is, and not run away from what begs us to stay, to see, to offer a hand. I want to interact with both the outer world, and my inner world in that way. I want to be with what’s there, and search for the parts of myself that might have the capacity to add some gentleness to it all.
In an interview, you said: “I’ll say one of the other primary places I speak from is rooted in the belief that even when the truth isn’t hopeful the telling of it is.” Would you say more on how the act of telling the truth is in itself hopeful?
I use the word “god” a lot in my work, and I never quite know how to explain what I mean when I say “god” but if I had to come up with a one-word definition I’d say “truth”. On a personal and political level–it’s what I put my faith in: truth. And on the flip-side of that—what I’m most afraid of are lies. So even when the truth fills us with grief, it’s a healing grief. It’s a grief with momentum towards positive change. It’s something to count on, to believe in, to build our lives in service of.
When was the last time you were completely covered in goosebumps?
Oh, I love this question! It’s so fun to think about. I shared this story on socials some weeks ago, but I’ll share it here again. As I’m several months into chemo I’ve lost all of my body hair— except for my eyebrows. Every morning I wake up, look in the mirror, and marvel at how fiercely my brows are still holding on. One day, as I was thinking about the miracle of it, I received a message from my parents saying my father had woken up with one of his eyebrows missing. It had disappeared in the night for no known reason. They sent me a photo, and I was covered from head to toe in goosebumps. A month later my dad’s eyebrow is still missing. And mine are both still here. I believe he lost his so I could keep mine. No one can convince me otherwise.
What are you looking forward to?
I don’t have the same relationship to “looking forward” as I used to, and that’s not a bad thing. I get excited about waking up tomorrow and feeling the feeling of having a wide-open heart. In this very second, I’m excited to tell my three dogs it’s time for dinner and watch them have an absolutely impossible time controlling their bliss-howl. I look forward to hugging my mom sometime very soon. I look forward to writing more of this current journey down in a way that might add some lightness to the world’s heavy heart. Additionally, I’ve almost completed an album of songs for which I wrote all the lyrics and collaborated with different musicians to bring them to life. I’m excited to have written something people can sing along to. I’m excited for it to snow. I’m excited to make a snow angel. Or three or four or five. And I’m excited to look at the moon through my telescope tonight.
Andrea Gibson Dies: Poet Featured In Award-Winning 2025 Sundance Documentary Was 49
By Greg Evans
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Andrea Gibson dead
Andrea Gibson at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival
Getty Images
Andrea Gibson, the poet and performance artist whose four-year fight with ovarian cancer was chronicled in director Ryan White’s 2025 Sundance Film Festival documentary Come See Me in the Good Light, died Monday, July 14, at their home in Boulder, Colorado. They were 49.
Gibson’s death was announced by their wife, Megan Falley, who also is featured in the documentary that won the Sundance Festival Favorite Award and airs this fall on Apple TV+, and their friend, Stef Willen. “Andrea Gibson died in their home (in Boulder, Colorado) surrounded by their wife, Meg, four ex-girlfriends, their mother and father, dozens of friends, and their three beloved dogs,” the Instagram post states.
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Andrea Gibson (left) and Meg Falley in 'Come See Me in the Good Light'
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Gibson’s poetry and spoken word performances often dealt with LGBTQ+ topics, gender norms and social justice. The poet self-identified as genderqueer and used they/them pronouns.
Born August 13, 1975, in Maine, Gibson moved to Colorado in the late 1990s and was named the state’s poet laureate for the last two years. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis paid tribute to Gibson on Monday, saying they were “truly one of a kind” and had “a unique ability to connect with the vast and diverse poetry lovers of Colorado.”
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Others paying tribute included comedian Tig Notaro, who is an executive producer on Come See Me in the Good Light and a longtime friend of the poet. “The final past few days of Andrea’s life were so painful to witness, but simultaneously one of the most beautiful experiences of all of our lives,” Notaro wrote on Instagram. “Surrounded by real human connection unfolding in the most unlikely ways during one of the most devastating losses has given me a gift that I will never be able to put into meaningful words.”
“Rest in power beautiful human,” Ariana DeBose wrote in an Instagram Story.
Among Gibson’s books are You Better Be Lightning, Take Me With You and Lord of the Butterflies. In addition to LGBTQ+ and gender issues, the poet’s work also addressed their illness and mortality. In one poem, Gibson wrote, “Will the afterlife be harder if I remember/the people I love, or forget them? Either way, please let me remember.”
Remembering Andrea Gibson, The Poet Who Touched My Heart
July 15, 2025 Sassafras Patterdale
Like so many fans, I have leaned on Andrea’s brilliant and poignant words during some of my darkest days.
“Andrea would want you to know that they got their wish. In the end, their heart was covered in stretch marks.” This was the ending of a heartbreakingly beautiful message shared out on social media on Monday, July 14, notifying the world that beloved queer and nonbinary poet Andrea Gibson had passed away. As a longtime fan of their work, I followed Andrea’s journey online through the cancer diagnosis in 2021. Like so many, I hoped that they would beat this disease. Andrea’s final message was a reminder that this, like so much of life, isn’t black or white. Andrea didn’t lose a battle to cancer; in fact, the announcement of their passing centered the message “Whenever I leave this world, whether it’s sixty years from now, I wouldn’t want anyone to say I lost some battle. I’ll be a winner that day.”
Related: Andrea Gibson, Queer Poet And Colorado Laureate, Dies At 49
As a writer and a human, I have so admired the way that they would write about their journey with cancer, with the same tender vulnerability they wrote about gender, sex, love, and family. I am a chronic optimist. Even in the darkest of times, I always took comfort in the way that their stories found ways to center joy, love, and gratitude even in the hardest moments life can throw at you. Andrea’s work gave voice to a generation of writers, poets, weirdos, and tender-hearted queers. Andrea was always authentically, vulnerably queer and achieved incredible success in their 49 years. Andrea was the poet laureate of Colorado, author of poetry collections, and the creator of seven spoken word albums.
Andrea’s work explored not just personal identity and their journey of gender and sexuality, but also the reality of walking through the world as a visible queer person. Andrea’s poetry touched on big themes from hate crimes and broken hearts, to one of my favorite simple joys, the love of a very good dog.
I first discovered Andrea’s poetry in the early 2000s, around the time their first album, Bullets & Windchimes, was released. I saw them perform every chance I got when they toured through small queer and feminist venues in Portland, Oregon. My friends and I would blast their albums on punk house stereo systems and in beat-up cars driving late at night (confession, we burned the same CD because we couldn’t all afford copies). I would sit in the backseat, letting their words wash over me. Andrea Gibson’s poetry has been a touchpoint for a generation of tender queers who find joy in the magic that each day brings, and joy through heartache. Like so many fans, I have leaned on Andrea’s brilliant and poignant words during some of my darkest days. Their poems and stories feel like a comforting hug today as their leaving this earthly space sinks in, and I realize there will be no new albums, books, or poems.
Andrea fought a four-year battle with ovarian cancer and shared much of their journey through their social media and poetry. They found joy and wonder even in painful and difficult days, inspiring countless others to also search for the good in difficult circumstances. Andrea “died in their home surrounded by their wife, Meg, four ex-girlfriends, their mother and father, dozens of friends, and their three beloved dogs.” I can’t think of a more fittingly loving and peaceful way for them to exit this lifetime.
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The announcement on social media about their passing expressed so perfectly what anyone familiar with Andrea’s work knows intimately: “though Andrea desperately wished to have lived a longer life, they could not have possibly lived a fuller one.” As devastating as it was to learn about their passing, I was struck by the power of this statement. Who could want more than to die knowing that? The world is darker without their light, and the retaliation is that there will be no more books, poems, or albums coming from them. I’ll be watching the moon, which was so often featured in their poetry, and thinking about the light their stories brought to my life and the lives of so many.
In April, Andrea recorded their last interview, reading a new poem, “Dying is the opposite of leaving…” Without question, their words are the most powerful way to remember their light and voice. Rest in poetry, brave storyteller. Thank you for the unapologetic queer joy, the hopes and the dreams, the metaphors and the tender bravery. Life is short, heartbreakingly so. May we take the lessons that Andrea gifted us within their work and apply them to our own lives. May we all carry their hope, light, and joy into every interaction. May we love our dogs harder, hold our lovers a bit tighter, see the beauty in humanity, and most of all be brave enough to be just a little bit softer.
Andrea Gibson. Button, $16 trade paper (112p) ISBN 978-1-943735-42-6
Propelled by all that is raw, heartfelt, and confessional, this fifth collection from Gibson (Take Me With You) is a tour de force of performance poetry. Gibson is a natural storyteller and delivers with gumption, whether narrating a visit to an ex-lover's new ivy-coated apartment or digitally editing a sister's mug shot. Recounting the Orlando nightclub shooting, where first responders "walked through the horrific scene/ of bodies and called out,/ If you are alive, raise your hand," Gibson's speaker recalls being in bed hundreds of miles away, imagining that "in that exact moment/ my hand twitched in my sleep,/ some unconscious part of me aware/ that I had a pulse,/ that I was alive." The book's subject matter ranges widely, with Gibson delivering a tongue-in-cheek ode to public panic attacks ("You found me at Disney World,/ in line for The Little Mermaid/ Slow Moving Clam Ride") between tackling Tinder dating and gun violence, and confronting issues that affect the greater LGBTQ community. Despite Gibson's storytelling prowess, some of these poems feel a little too familiar while simultaneously falling flat on the page. Though this work lacks the vivacity of Gibson's stage presence and live performance, the book is notable for its energy and diverse array of voice-driven poems. (Dec.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
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"Lord of the Butterflies." Publishers Weekly, vol. 265, no. 47, 19 Nov. 2018, pp. 73+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A564341873/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ff307bd0. Accessed 30 July 2025.
Gibson, Andrea. Take Me with You. Illus. by Sarah J. Coleman. Plume/Penguin Random House, January 2018. 208p. $15. Trade pb. 978-0-7352-1951-9.
5Q * 3P * S
Andrea Gibson, poet and activist, brings her poignant spoken-word poetry to print. Organized into three sections, "On Love," "On the World," and "On Becoming," the works explore personal issues of love, acceptance, family, gender, and self-worth, as well as the impact of social systems, like politics and religion, on the individual and humanity. Ultimately, it is about the quests for love and being true to one's self while confronting the obstacles of judgment, hate, and separation. Throughout, Gibson disturbs complacency towards the status quo and challenges suppressive spheres of influence and power, yet wraps their desolating impact in desire and hope for restorative love and acceptance.
Take Me with You delivers one-liners, couplets, and longer forms (usually one page) of free-verse poetry that are personal, intimate, and stirring. While this work speaks to LGBTQ+ issues, anyone who yearns for love, acceptance, safety, forgiveness, and change will find compassion here. Still, this work will have a niche audience. Heavy use of similes and metaphors adds layers of meaning that will entice rereading, and because of the poems' brevity, rereading is accomplished easily. The all-caps font gives the messages an unapologetic forcefulness and urgency. Numerous black-and-white, hand-drawn illustrations resonate and mirror Gibsons ideas. The complexity of this work makes it suited to sophisticated readers. Those who enjoy Gibson's spoken-word performances will not be disappointed, while those unfamiliar with her performances may seek them out online, creating a multimedia experience.--Stefanie N. Hughes.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
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Hughes, Stefanie N. "Gibson, Andrea. Take Me with You." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 40, no. 6, Feb. 2018, pp. 73+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A529357194/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d0354c82. Accessed 30 July 2025.