Passionate slam poet confronts injustices

Slam poet Andrea Gibson performed at 51 Main on Tuesday, March 1. The event drew a large crowd of both students and members of the community, and seating became limited very quickly.  The dim, cozy atmosphere of 51 Main was perfect for hosting a poet of Gibson’s standing, but the glowing blue lights that illuminated her on her ‘stage’ were what created her hauntingly ethereal image that remained throughout the night.

Gibson herself noted the incredible ambiance of 51 Main.

“This place is f***ing rad,” she said. “It looks like it used to be a fireworks factory.”

Introductions aside, Gibson began the night with a love poem and the statement, “Political poems are love poems, and love poems are political poems. I don’t think I’ve ever started off a show with one of these.” She launched into a passionate, lyrical tirade about a love lost. The verses were gut-wrenching and honest, with lines such as “I cried so hard the neighbors knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to borrow some sugar.” By starting off with such a fierce opener, Gibson let the audience know what was to come for the rest of the performance. Throughout the night, Gibson would speak of reality, life experiences, culture and politics, all while deconstructing immense issues such as gender norms, sexuality, social class, patriarchy and suicide.

Gibson’s next poem described her childhood — notably, how she would often be mistaken for a boy and how she expected her mother to start on a “litany of things to fix [her].” Yet her mother “accepted [her] as her gay daughter,” and Gibson began to “search for the home in [her] own skin.” She raged at how she was dragged from a women’s restroom, challenged those who looked down on her that she “does not wear a welcome mat on [her] chest so [they] could walk on it,” and asserted that she was “as butch as a Swedish figure skater.” All the while during her passionate outburst, the audience whooped and cheered at her emotional and enthralling message of tolerance.

Another piece was written for a friend who served in Iraq. This poem’s theme revolved around the political and religious issues surrounding the war in the Middle East. “I would write nothing but white flags,” Gibson said at one point during the piece. “Somebody pray for the soldiers. John, 33. David, 19. How ironic that their deaths sound like Bible verses.” Speckled with fact, opinions, anecdotes and powerful messages on America’s pressing social issues, Gibson’s verses would begin to collect and string together as her near-breathless voice trembled and her passion rose with each performance.

The audience was sobered not only by Gibson’s poetry, but by the short stories of injustices she told in between pieces. One in particular was incredibly jarring: Gibson told the story of a woman whose partner was hospitalized and she was not allowed in because she was not legally “family.” The partner died and the woman was haunted by her experience, left to wonder if her partner knew how much she tried to be by her side.

Gibson’s delivery was so down to earth and relatable, yet at the same time there was an ever-present sense of brash and righteous outrageousness in her messages, which ultimately came down to preaching tolerance and respect.
Other pieces contained a lighter, cheekier side to the passionate poet; in one poem, she described how a bully punched her tooth out so she “spat on his bike seat and beat the crap out of his older brother.” In another, she spoke of how her mother would weigh her on the postal scale and, one day, she got lost in the mail. The audience particularly enjoyed the story of how, when having a particularly intense orgasm, Gibson “said ‘yes’ so loud that not even God could disagree.”

Gibson also poked fun at herself, noting that a majority of her selections that night focused on homosexuality.

“I’m not usually this gay,” she said with a laugh. “I usually scream a lot more about war.”

Gibson was the winner of the 2008 Women’s World Poetry Slam, and has placed third in the world on two international poetry slam stages. She has published a book entitled “Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns”, which won the DIY Poetry Book of the Year. In addition to her literary achievements, Gibson has appeared on shows such as Free Speech, BBC, CSPAN, NPR and in the documentary Slam Planet. She has released four albums and is on tour approximately 180 dates per year.
As parting gifts, Gibson also gave snippets of advice to the audience. For instance, she advised that “if you’re having a bad day, go out into a field and scream at the sky. Make spaces to share with others what is going on with you.”

She also stressed the importance of being oneself and making one’s own identity the most important aspect of life.

“We don’t know s**t about walking in other people’s shoes,” she said, “but we know everything about walking in our own feet.”