The poet Andrea Gibson died yesterday, a month shy of their 50th birthday and after a long journey with cancer. Among the tributes, I discovered this little poem, which I printed up for the poetry box right away.
One of the things I admired most about Gibson was how they and their poetry reached people, including people who don’t think of themselves as poetry fans. They were a public poet—a model of bravery in the face of illness, of giving voice to those we don’t always hear, of being willing to show us both fierceness and vulnerability.
Here is a beautiful video and poem of Gibson’s that we used in a Write Together Saturday. For our prompt, we made a list of people who support us and then wrote a letter to one of them. This is always a good idea.
Rest in peace and power, Andrea Gibson.
“Best friend, this is what we do.
We gather each other up.
We say, the cup is half
yours and half mine.
We say alone is the last place you will ever be.”
