Andrea Gibson Quotes

"When the first responders entered the Pulse Nightclub after the massacre in Orlando, they walked through the horrific scene of bodies and called out, "If you're alive, raise your hand." I was sweeping in a hotel in the midwest at the time but I imagine in that exact moment my hand twitched in my sleep – some unconscious part of me aware, that I had a pulse. That I was alive."

I have been painting the night sky upon the inside of doorframes

so only moonshine will fall on your head in the earthquake.

All living is storm chasing. Every good heart has lost its roof. Let the walls collapse at your feet. Scream, 'Timber,' when they ask how you are. 'Fine' is the suckiest word. It is the opposite of 'here.

The present is far from gift-wrapped.

Next time I will know it’s normal to have a hard time breathing when you shake the dust. We make everything so complicated. Sometimes, the message in the bottle is “Don’t drink so much — there’s too much Novocaine in our wisdom teeth already.

I’ve been wrapping one night stands

around my body like wedding bands

but none of them fit in the morning,

I suppose we wear our traumas the way the guillotine wears gravity; our lovers' necks are so soft.

I feel that sometimes when I’m writing poems — like they don’t yet fit. Do you ever feel like the best of you is something you’re still hoping to grow into?

My grandfather went to Heaven.

I know this because he taught my mother
how to wiggle her ears.
I know this because my mother walks the same way
my grandfather did
and on the days my mother cannot get out of bed
her single comfort
is knowing she has his blood.

When your heart is broken you plant seeds in the cracks

and you pray for rain.

And you teach your sons and daughters

.there are sharks in the water

but the only way to survive

is to breathe deep

and dive.

When all the good in you starts arguing with all the bad in you about who you really are, never let the bad in you make the better case.

I wonder how many people have died driving while checking how many likes their Facebook status got. I wonder how much life has been lost in the bloody ditch of approval, how many skulls have swallowed windshields trying to see if they are worthy of applause, worthy of their own heart's hungry beat.

I keep remembering being fifteen at Disneyland wearing my best friend's hoodie like it was my boyfriend's class ring. How many years it took me just to touch her face. How many years I sent praying my heart could play dead 'til the threat was gone. 'Til the world changed. 'Til history was history.

The trauma said, 'Don't write this poem. Nobody wants to hear you cry about the grief inside your bones.' But my bones said, 'Remember the boy who dove into the Hudson River convinced he was entirely alone.' My bones said, 'Write the poem.

I swear to god if I had an Adam's apple, I'd tell her to peel it and take a bite.