I'll admit that I've long been a sucker for smart queer girls who have a way with words. Therefore it's no surprise that I'm a little obsessed with award-winning out spoken word artist Andrea Gibson, a slam poet originally from Denver (like yours truly), whose work still sends chills down my spine whenever I hear it.
Gibson has been perpetually touring for years now, and I highly suggest anyone who has a chance brave the always-long lines to secure a spot to see her perform. Your heart, soul, and mind, will thank you. Track down Gibson at her next gig, listed here.
For those of you who can't see Gibson in person, enjoy this powerful poem, "Ashes," captured on video by Andrea Alseri, with out musician Chris Pureka providing the perfectly somber, sentient acoustic accompaniment. "Ashes" appears on Gibson's latest album, Truce, due out in October.
It's hard to pick a favorite verse, but I'd say these lines hit the deepest:
"And all they know of hate / Is that it couldn't beat the love out of me / That when they dropped me to the grave / I fell like a bucket into a well / and came up full / carving my lover's name into the skin of a weeping willow / that had spent its entire life laughing at the rain."
Hear the entire poem in the video below:
"Ashes" by Andrea Gibson featuring Chris Pureka from Look Sessions on Vimeo.
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