RIP: Colorado Loses Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson

“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," Andrea Gibson is quoted as saying in the July 14 Facebook post announcing their death.

"Andrea Gibson was a winner today," the post continued. "On July 14th, at 4:16AM, Andrea Gibson died in their home surrounded by their wife, Meg, four ex-girlfriends, their mother and father, dozens of friends, and their three beloved dogs."

Gibson, 49, was Colorado's tenth poet laureate and the author of seven books, including the award-winning Lord of the Butterflies. Gibson was known for their live performances and speaking out on issues of sexism, classism, patriarchy and white supremacy.

"For the last two decades, whenever I’m asked where I want my ashes scattered when I die, I answer, 'the Mercury Cafe,'" Gibson wrote in a 2020 Westword op-ed about the establishment that is now called The Pearl. "Not the Grand Canyon or the Pacific Ocean or the lavender fields of France. I want my ashes scattered at the Mercury Cafe in Denver, Colorado."

Gibson said that they became a poet in the Mercury Cafe, and that the cultural center kept them alive and wanting to live during a lonely time in their life.

Gibson found out they had cancer in 2021, but never stopped seeking joy, according to the Facebook post on their page. "One of the last things Andrea said on this plane was, 'I fucking loved my life,'" the post continued.

“It is with a heavy heart that we mourn the loss of Andrea Gibson, an inspiring poet and Colorado’s current Poet Laureate," Governor Jared Polis said in a statement about the poet's death. "Renowned for inspiring poetry, advocacy for arts in education, and unique ability to connect with the vast and diverse poetry lovers of Colorado, Andrea was truly one of a kind and will be deeply missed by personal friends as well all who were touched by their poetry. My thoughts go out to Andrea’s loved ones during this difficult time."

"Art has been the most vital medicine in my life," Gibson wrote in their Westword column. "So much so that I believe in humankind only to the degree to which humankind embraces creativity."