logo
Colorado's poet laureate Andrea Gibson dies at 49, leaves ‘Love Letter from the Afterlife'

Colorado's poet laureate Andrea Gibson dies at 49, leaves ‘Love Letter from the Afterlife'

Indian Express15-07-2025
Andrea Gibson, award-winning poet, activist, and Colorado's Poet Laureate, died on July 14, 2025, at the age of 49. They passed peacefully at home in Boulder, Colorado, surrounded by their wife Meg, family, close friends, and their three beloved dogs.
In the months leading up to their death, Gibson, who was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer in 2021, had been writing about mortality, joy, and the intimacy of impermanence.
'Since learning they had cancer in 2021, Andrea has been a champion of finding beauty in unlikely places and gratitude in the hardest hours. Over the last four years, they danced with their diagnosis, and continually aimed their internal compass toward joy,' their wife Meg wrote on Facebook.
But perhaps no piece encapsulates their spirit more than the piece they published on their Substack in December 2023, titled 'Love Letter from the Afterlife.'
Written during the holiday season for those grappling with loss, the poem has become, since the announcement of Gibson's death, a spiritual farewell to readers, listeners, and loved ones alike. 'Dying is the opposite of leaving,' the piece begins, reimagining death not as absence, but as presence magnified.
Originally inspired by a message from their late grandmother, who told Gibson, 'I am more here than I ever was before,' the poem carries the voice of someone who has passed but remains deeply intertwined with the lives of those they love. 'Ask me the altitude of heaven, and I will answer, 'How tall are you?''
With lines that speak of forgiveness, enduring affection, and grief transformed into grace, the piece has resonated deeply with readers around the world. 'I want to echo it through the corridor of your temples, I am more with you than I ever was before,' they write.
Gibson describes death as a kind of reincarnation in the hearts of the living. 'I know it's hard to believe, but I promise it's the truth. I promise one day you will say it too— I can't believe I ever thought I could lose you.'
Andrea Gibson was one of the most influential spoken word poets of their generation. Born in Calais, Maine, in 1975, they rose to national recognition through their raw, emotionally vulnerable performances and writing that tackled gender identity, queerness, mental health, love, and mortality.
In 2023, Gibson was named Poet Laureate of Colorado, where they had lived since the late 1990s. They authored seven poetry collections, including You Better Be Lightning and Lord of the Butterflies, and toured internationally to packed audiences.
They were also the subject of the award-winning documentary Come See Me in the Good Light, which follows Gibson and their wife Meg as they navigate love, art, and terminal illness. The film premiered at Sundance to critical acclaim and is set to air on Apple TV+ later this year.
Gibson had a rare ability to connect deeply with people across backgrounds and identities. Their poetry helped LGBTQ+ youth, gave voice to those navigating grief, and offered comfort to the terminally ill. In the final years of their life, they became a beacon for how to live with joy even in the shadow of death.
Their final Facebook post, which was put up by their wife after Gibson passed away, reads: '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.'
On July 14, at 4:16 am, Andrea Gibson was a winner.
Though they deeply wished for more time, those close to Gibson say they found peace and presence in their final days. They lived fully until the end, writing, laughing, creating, and surrounding themselves with chosen family.
In their final letter to the world, Andrea Gibson assures us that love, once given, never leaves. The poem now stands as both a farewell and a promise: that the people we lose remain with us, folded into every breath, every sunrise, every poem.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

The Hindu On Books newsletter: Gardiner Harris on J&J's dangerous ways, Vajpayee's biography, Delhi in fiction and more
The Hindu On Books newsletter: Gardiner Harris on J&J's dangerous ways, Vajpayee's biography, Delhi in fiction and more

The Hindu

time5 days ago

  • The Hindu

The Hindu On Books newsletter: Gardiner Harris on J&J's dangerous ways, Vajpayee's biography, Delhi in fiction and more

Welcome to this edition of The Hindu on Books Newsletter. The literary world has lost two writers, including a celebrated poet. Andrea Gibson, who used the pronoun they, explored gender identity, politics and a four-year battle with terminal ovarian cancer through verse. In Memoriam The 49-year-old starred in a documentary, 'Come See Me in the Good Light', with their wife Megan Falley which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival amid cheers and tears. In a poem Gibson wrote shortly before they died, titled 'Love Letter from the Afterlife,' they wrote: 'Dying is the opposite of leaving. When I left my body, I did not go away. That portal of light was not a portal to elsewhere, but a portal to here. I am more here than I ever was before.' Mystery writer Martin Cruz Smith, who wrote thrillers like Gorky Park and Hotel Ukraine, the 11th and latest in the series featuring the Moscow investigator Arkady Renko, has passed away at age 82. In its obituary, AP quoted from an interview Smith gave to 'Strand Magazine' in 2023: 'My longevity is linked to Arkady's. As long as he remains intelligent, humorous, and romantic, so shall I.' The fictional Arkady was given the same condition like the writer's – Parkinson's disease. Publisher Simon&Schuster penned a moving tribute saying, Smith's books are one of the great achievements in modern suspense writing. In reviews this week, we learn more about Gardiner Harris' takedown of one of America's most loved companies, Johnson&Johnson, and its dark and dangerous secrets, we read an excerpt from the second and last part of Atal Bihari Vajpayee's biography, and several books with Delhi at the centre and more. Books of the week The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson (Ebury Press) is a hard hitting expose on what went on at J&J, the pharma major. It uncovers the secrets across the company's drugs and products from baby powder, Tylenol, Risperdal (antipsychotic), EPO (a cancer drug), metal-on-metal hip implants, among others, which adversely impacted the health of users. Chillingly, the company continued to market them, fully cognisant of the harmful effects. In a conversation with Ramya Kannan, Harris, an investigative reporter, describes the Herculean task he took on, and what he was up against. Asked among all the violations, what he thought was the most egregious, he said: 'J&J, early on, would find out that its product was dangerous, and would hide those dangers not only from the public, but from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and other regulatory agencies, knowing that it could result in a number of deaths. I estimate that at least 2 million Americans alone died from using J&J products. So it really is hard to rank order. But the worst of the worst, just in terms of sheer numbers, would probably be Risperdal. Epidemiological analysis shows that it is probably one of the most deadly drugs that has ever been sold in the U.S. It is sold to children, even though it causes boys to grow breasts and young girls to express milk. And again, the company hid those risks, lied about them in publications.' The second volume of a two-part biography, Believer's Dilemma (Picador India) begins with a watershed moment when India voted in its first non-Congress government at the Centre in 1977. The Sangh Parivar was in the coalition, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee got the post of External Affairs Minister. Two years later, when the coalition collapsed, Vajpayee 'publicly apportioned some of the blame to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,' whose ideology he believed in. After a stint in government, 'the believer now had dilemmas,' writes Abhishek Chaudhary, and Vajpayee's relationship with the Sangh Parivar would 'remain a convoluted affair till the very end.' Read an excerpt. Is Delhi the 'Valhalla of hucksters, the nourishing nucleus of the confidence trick that is Indian democracy?' Ranbir Sidhu's new novel Night in Delhi (Context) is set in Delhi where almost everybody is out to scam somebody. The novel's unnamed protagonist is a minor crook and thief. As Aditya Mani Jha writes in his review, all the happenings are a window into the city's invisible gears and mechanisms, the covert economies that keep the whole thing together on a wing and a prayer. 'Sidhu's gaze is unflinching, shorn of sentiment, intent on grabbing the reader by the scruff of the neck, making them look at things they would have otherwise turned their gaze away from,' he points out. Spotlight Radhika Oberoi (Stillborn Season, Of Mothers and Other Perishables) writes an essay on Delhi in fiction, foregrounding old and new titles including Arundhati Roy's 2017 novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. She mentions a new anthology, Basti & Durbar: Delhi-New Delhi: A City in Stories (Speaking Tiger), edited by Rakhshanda Jalil, and says it is a soulful exposition of the many Delhis that exist, simultaneously, or piled upon the ruins of erstwhile Delhis. 'In the introduction, Jalil poses a few questions: 'Is the city central, or peripheral, to the writer's concerns? Can the 'spirit' of Delhi, the sum total of its disparate and disarming parts, ever really be captured in words?'' Delhi, says Oberoi, is a sensual city, a resilient city, a city of whores, eunuchs, and coiffed rummy players at the Gymkhana Club. 'And because it is unloved by those who live in its neighbourhoods and study at its universities, it becomes the stuff of literature.' Browser The New Geography of Innovation (HarperCollins) by Mehran Gul asks whether the geography of innovation is shifting from the U.S., the source of just about all the technologies that define modern life, from computers to social networks and electric cars. He looks to places like Taiwan (which has the world's most important semiconductor company, TSMC), and other places in Asia, Sweden (Spotify), Nordic countries (known for best-known games like Candy Crush and Angry Birds) and so forth. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Matt Richtel's new book, How We Grow Up: Understanding Adolescence, is based on years of investigative reporting for the New York Times, and offers a look at the modern adolescent experience—from rising anxiety and early puberty to how the digital world collides with a still-developing brain. If you liked the television series 'Adolescence' on Netflix which held a mirror to youth and society, this book is revelatory. Amrita Mahale's new novel, Real Life (Hamish Hamilton), is a mystery set around the disappearance of wildlife biologist Tara from the Mahamaya Valley in the Himalayas. As Tara's best friend Mansi tries to find out what happened, she is drawn into the mysteries of the Valley, the clash between technology and nature, and where a woman's voice can be silenced in many ways. Rudraneil Sengupta's The Beast Within (Context) is an effective police procedural, a rare breed in the country's bookscape. The reviewer, Sumana Mukherjee, writes that Sengupta delves into the many layers that comprise policing in India. His weary and damaged Inspector Prashant Kumar is a credible protagonist who works the many planes of the National Capital Region's realities without either diminishing inequities or ignoring power structures.

Rapper Cash Out sentenced to life in prison for running trafficking ring under RICO charges
Rapper Cash Out sentenced to life in prison for running trafficking ring under RICO charges

Time of India

time6 days ago

  • Time of India

Rapper Cash Out sentenced to life in prison for running trafficking ring under RICO charges

Atlanta rapper Cash Out, whose real name is John Gibson, has been sentenced to life in prison for rape, with an additional 70 years for a string of crimes including sex trafficking and racketeering. The court ruling, delivered on 18 July, brings to a close a harrowing trial that exposed a seven-year criminal enterprise hiding in plain sight. Rapper Cash Out sentenced to life for orchestrating vicious trafficking ring Cash Out rose to fame in the early 2010s with hits like "Cashin' Out" and "She Twerkin". But behind the celebrity image was a grim reality. Prosecutors say Gibson exploited his fame to lure vulnerable women into sex work. His victims were manipulated, starved, and abused, all under the guise of industry opportunities. Cash Out's mother 'Mama Cash Out' was also covicted The rapper's mother, Linda Smith, infamously known as "Mama Ca$h Out," was also convicted and sentenced to 30 years. His cousin Tyrone Taylor received life in prison plus 70 years. Prosecutors described the trio as the core operators of a trafficking network targeting women across Atlanta. Evidence included messages from eight seized phones and disturbing testimonies from survivors. Fulton County prosecutor Earnell Winfrey called the operation more than just pimping, it was modern-day slavery. One woman testified she was only fed if she performed sex acts. Prosecutors painted a picture of systematic abuse, with earnings collected in kitchen drawers and victims subjected to physical control and threats. Who is Rapper Cash Out? Signed to Epic Records in 2011, Cash Out seemed destined for stardom. Instead, his conviction now stands as a dark symbol of celebrity abuse. With 11 convictions including rape, aggravated sodomy, and RICO violations, Gibson's legacy has been shattered. He must also register as a sex offender and avoid areas connected to his crimes.

What did Andrew Tate do? Influencer accused of choking, sexual assault by alt-right YouTuber Lauren Southern
What did Andrew Tate do? Influencer accused of choking, sexual assault by alt-right YouTuber Lauren Southern

Time of India

time16-07-2025

  • Time of India

What did Andrew Tate do? Influencer accused of choking, sexual assault by alt-right YouTuber Lauren Southern

(Image via @cobratate & @Lauren_Southern/X) Andrew Tate is back in the headlines, this time, not for his usual controversies, but for a deeply serious accusation. Former alt-right figure and political commentator Lauren Southern has accused the internet personality of sexual assault in a newly released chapter from her upcoming book. The revelation has sent shockwaves through social media and reignited scrutiny around Tate's ongoing legal issues. Lauren Southern accuses Andrew Tate of sexual assault in latest book chapter On July 15, 2025, Lauren Southern shared an emotional and detailed account of her alleged experience with Andrew Tate. The disclosure came via her Substack post, where she published free chapters from her upcoming memoir This Is Not Real Life . In Chapter 11, titled Confessions , Southern recounted a disturbing night where, according to her, Tate carried her back to a hotel room while she was heavily intoxicated. — Awk20000 (@Awk20000) She alleged that what began as an unwanted kiss escalated into repeated instances of strangulation and sexual assault, despite her clearly saying 'no' multiple times. 'I tried to fight back. He repeatedly strangled me every time I regained enough consciousness to pull at his arms,' Southern wrote. 'You better not tell the press,' Southern claims Tate warned The chapter doesn't just recount what allegedly happened that night; it also describes the moments that followed. Southern claims that Tate warned her not to speak to the media. As she describes it, while hastily packing her bags to leave the hotel room, the former kickboxer allegedly said she 'better not tell the press' about what had occurred. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Never Put Eggs In The Refrigerator. Here's Why... Car Novels Undo Southern responded by reminding him of her public stance against feminism, a stance she now views as having helped suppress her own trauma for years. Southern says she was in denial until more evidence surfaced Though the incident described took place years ago, Southern says she kept silent for a long time. In her Substack post, she admits to having initially denied to herself that anything was wrong, in part, because of her ideological alignment and personal image at the time. Over time, however, that denial began to break. As more media coverage and court records surfaced about Tate's alleged involvement in grooming and sex trafficking, Southern says her "comfortable state of denial" became impossible to maintain. 'At least when I met him, I had no idea,' she wrote, referring to the multiple allegations and charges currently levied against Tate. Neither Andrew Tate nor his legal team has responded publicly to the allegations at the time of writing. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store