Andrea Gibson: “When I realized the storm was inevitable, I made it my medicine.”
The Colorado Poet Laureate brings us the reminder we all need — that the joy of life comes from “ceasing to resist it, in learning to meet life as it is”
Welcome to our National Poetry Month series that spotlights a favorite poet every day — 30 in all! Sift through the archive and share with a poetry fan in your life.
Andrea Gibson is a magnificent award-winning poet and the Colorado Poet Laureate. Andrea (who goes by they/their) has written multiple books of poetry, including Lord of the Butterflies, Pansy, The Madness Vase, and their latest, You Better Be Lightning. An incredible spoken word poet, they won the first Women’s World Poetry Slam.
For the past several years, Andrea has been living with incurable cancer.
The condition has shaped their poetry and their life in astonishing ways.
Andrea has written and spoken about this unexpected transformation with palpable joy. Here’s one version of how they have explained it, in this post on their Substack newsletter
:Throughout the past years, I have written extensively about the vast changes I experienced in myself immediately after my cancer diagnosis. Even amidst what I formerly imagined might be the most turbulent experience I’d ever face, life began to flow freely. A new sense of peace found me—not in the absence of hardship, but in ceasing to resist it, in learning to meet life as it is.
The change was so profound that, after a lifetime of thinking of myself as the most nostalgic person in the world, I stopped experiencing nostalgia. Where I once pined for the “good old days,” I found myself almost never reaching backward in time. I couldn’t long for something better because I had never experienced anything better than living with a wide open, unguarded heart.
Andrea’s poem “How the Worst Day of My Life Became the Best” begins:
When I realized the storm was inevitable, I made it my medicine. Took two snowflakes on the tongue in the morning, two snowflakes on the tongue by noon. There were no side effects. Only sound effects. Reverb added to my lifespan ...
Read the full poem.
Andrea’s wisdom transcends their own disease — it’s been life-nurturing for so many.
Writer Glennon Doyle learned of Andrea and their poetry through her own physician, as she explained on her podcast “We Can Do Hard Things”:
“Maybe a couple of months ago, I was struggling in my recovery, just having a moment that I was just stuck and nothing was getting better, and I was talking to my doctor, who’s an amazingly wise and world-renowned eating disorder specialist.”
And this doctor was quiet, and then said: “Glennon, what I want you to do is, I want you to find the poet, Andrea Gibson.”
Glennon recalled: “… at first, I thought, well, f**k. This is the world-renowned doctor and the only idea she has left for me is poetry.”
But then Glennon ordered Andrea’s books. And “…on the first page of the first book, I understood exactly why my doctor prescribed Andrea Gibson’s poetry. I felt for the first time and maybe ever that somebody was telling the truthiest truth.”
Like all the best poets, Andrea has a way of bulldozing through the junk piles of life to the core understandings.
Here’s one poem that Andrea wrote during the last National Poetry Month, in 2024, and includes:
I will never deny how badly I want to live.
I have a measly wrinkle collection compared to my dream goal.
I would absolutely love to be a before-picture.
This world looks at super models the way I now look
at ninety year olds who have hair so silver
they could tinsel their own trees, so many
laugh lines their faces look like roadmaps to heaven.
But I did not meet this life until I met its brevity.
Did not meet my voice until I knew every word
could be my last. I did not know what prayer was
until I started praying for what I already have. Andrea can be earnest — and also so funny and playful.
Take this version of their poem “Boomerang Valentine” that they shared on Instagram:
The poem begins years ago, when Andrea is single and looking for love, with a friend asking: What if YOU are the love of your life?
And Andrea replies:
I think, Oh my god,
I hope that’s not true,
because I am absolutely not my type.
But let’s say for a moment I am. Then Andrea goes on to imagine, in this delightful scenario — Andrea ringing the doorbell for Andrea and handing themselves a mason jar of lilies.
The poem continues:
Let’s say I am so charmed by the radiance of my own anarchy, I invite myself in for tea, and when I’m not looking, I sneak the steam from the kettle into my pocket so the next time I’m missing the coast of Maine I can gift myself the fog.
What a love affair you could have — if you were the love of your life.
This sweet poem ends:
When it comes to love the only thing I’m certain of is: You are the best thing that has ever happened to you.
Here’s a longer (and slightly less suitable for work) version of the poem that gives you a sense of Andrea’s power as a spoken word performer:
Andrea recently had a documentary filmed about them and their partner, Megan Falley. “Come See Me In the Good Light” is an Sundance award-winning film produced by Tig Notaro. It’s coming to Apple TV this fall. I can’t wait to watch it.
Finally, let me leave you one of Andrea’s soul-nurturing reminders, of which you can find more at the bottom of this post and this post.
You keep worrying you're taking up too much space I wish you'd let yourself be the Milky Way.
More, please
Andrea Gibson’s website, which along with the usual sections also has fabulous poetry shirts and other merch.
Andrea’s post on resolutions: “The more we change, the more we must commit to loving the people we were before we changed.”
Love Letter from the Afterlife: Comfort for those grieving a loved one.
Read the poem “Instead of Depression” by Andrea Gibson.
More about the documentary “Come See Me In the Good Light” with screening dates
’s fantastic Substack newsletter: Things That Don’t Suck (highly recommend)We Can Do Hard Things Podcast: “The Bravest Conversation We’ve Had: Andrea Gibson”
See you tomorrow with another poet!
Brianne
This post was so great, Brianne! So many gems! The excerpt from her post about learning to live so unguarded in the now was so powerful. And I loved the poem about the "wrinkle collection" and the super models and the "before picture." WOW. And so much more, plus great links. Thanks for this introduction!