Andrea Gibson – See This Through

Curated By Ralph

"The Road Not Taken" is a source of inspiration for me, because it encourages me to seize opportunities and chart my own course in life.

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Andrea Gibson, performing in Longmont, CO.

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We seek to showcase the power and diversity of voices in our community. By encouraging and broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, we hope to broaden poetry’s audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural appreciation for the art form.


San francisco So many years ago the queers could still Afford to live there I was in a woman's bed Wrapped up in her sheets when she stood Naked atop the mattress and began to Peel the glow in the dark stars off of The ceiling pressing constellations all Over her skin cassiopeia on her Collarbone orion on her wrist she said I could be your universe And i made my wish But it didn't come true My therapist who i can never go a day Without quoting has a theory about love She says often we are believing a lie When we believe time is what helps us See each other more clearly says to Consider the opposite might be true Consider the beginning might actually be When our hearts have perfect vision Remember when she left her red sock and Your white laundry and you knew you'd Never stop blushing remember when her Laughter was a disco ball and everything Around her sparkled Especially you Remember when you could find no flaws Just quirks you would have worn on a Charm bracelet how you told her you were Terrified of loud noises and she snuck The balloons out of every birthday party You went to You adored that she ate donuts for every

Breakfast called naps snoozers built her Countertops from old chessboards you Watched her fold your horoscope into a Paper airplane and you hoped it had no Exit row found 64 lucky pennies in the Five months after you met wrap them for Her birthday and fabric you cut from the Sleeve of your only warm jacket learned To play the ukulele just so you could Write her songs tattooed her halos on Your arms and left a space For all you'd both do wrong You sneezed poetry you said to her you Could win the nobel prize just from Getting the flu What if what you saw then was the truth My therapist asks your holiest self Seeing someone else's holiest self what If what came after was the lie what if The disco ball never stopped sparkling Something just closed your eyes your Past maybe the terror you carry inside But not enough or too much that raised You to do everything you could to ensure You'd be hurt More than you'd be loved We were in our kitchen In new orleans it was morning and i was Sitting at the table her grandfather had Given her grandmother as a wedding gift When she told me where her lips had been The night before I walked into our bedroom picked up 64 Pennies

And threw them out the door She dove onto the ground crawled on her Knees counting the pennies one by one Into her hands saying my name over and Over both of our lips Buried in tears When we officially broke up i was so Certain i had nothing left to lose i Went to an open mic for the first time And read a love poem i wrote for her Before we said goodbye I was shaking So much my voice could not be heard over The paper rattling in my hands but i Knew wherever she was in the world that Night that poem found her ears That was 20 years ago 20 years i've been writing love poems Last night i was at her house holding Her son who calls me ankle because it's A mix between aunt and uncle and i was Thinking how the straight folks in my Life don't always understand why so many Of my exes are my closest friends but my How my therapist says it's the most Beautiful part of the queer community How we've all lost so much family when We find people we call family we'll do Almost anything to not say goodbye And because i didn't say goodbye she was There when i met the woman dressed in Glow-in-the-dark stars and the woman With the checkerboard countertops and The woman who rescued me from the

Balloons and the woman whose halos i Tattooed and the woman who ate ice cream With her hands and i didn't call it a Flaw i called it a quirk and My god i know that makes it sound like i Got around y'all And let me say for the record i wish i Got around but i didn't i'm just old and I wrote it all down every bit of it the Love who came out to her family in the Middle of thanksgiving grace the woman Whose eyes were the mirror where i Learned to love my own face the day i Got proposed to hours after leaving the Psych ward the stitches still raw In my arm How unready i was To let myself be loved by someone who Thought even at my lowest I shined the sun My therapist Is still working with me On that one You

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