Andrea Gibson's words have felt like a hand reached out so many times throughout my life. They're not only writing words like warm hugs, they're also the most authentic live performer I've ever experienced. If you're new to Andrea's writings, I urge you to start with my favorite book of theirs, The Madness Vase, or their latest book, You Better Be Lightning.
“You are not weak just because your heart feels so heavy.”
― Andrea Gibson, The Nutritionist
“Before I die, I want to be somebody’s favorite hiding place, the place they can put everything they know they need to survive, every secret, every solitude, every nervous prayer, and be absolutely certain I will keep it safe. I will keep it safe.”
― Andrea Gibson
"Just to be clear I don’t want to get out without a broken heart. I intend to leave this life so shattered there’s gonna have to be a thousand separate heavens for all of my flying parts."
– Andrea Gibson
"So this is for the day we’ll quit or jobs and work for something real."
– Andrea Gibson
"she said you will never be let down by anyone more than you will be let down by the one you love most in the world it’s how gravity works it’s why they call it “falling” it’s why the truth is harder to tell every year you have more to lose but you can choose to bury your past in the garden beside the tulips water it until it’s so alive it lets go and you belong to yourself again you belong to yourself again"
– Andrea Gibson
I know most people try hard
to do good and find out too late
they should have tried softer.
– Andrea Gibson, You Better Be Lightning
"Cause I don’t wanna be a witness to this life, I want to be charged and convicted, ear lifted to her song like a bouquet of yes because my heart is a parachute that has never opened in time and I wanna fuck up that pattern, leave a hole where the cold comes in and fill it every day with her sun, ‘cause anyone who has ever sat in lotus for more than a few seconds knows it takes a hell of a lot more muscle to stay than to go"
– Andrea Gibson, Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns
"Lately I’ve been thinking about who I want to love, and how I want to love, and why I want to love the way I want to love, and what I need to learn to love that way, and who I need to become to become the kind of love I want to be…….and when I break it all down, when I whittle it into a single breath, it essentially comes out like this: Before I die, I want to be somebody’s favorite hiding place, the place they can put everything they know they need to survive, every secret, every solitude, every nervous prayer, and be absolutely certain I will keep it safe. I will keep it safe."
"
To every day you could not get out of bed. To the bulls eye of your wrist To anyone who has ever wanted to die. I have been told, sometimes, the most healing thing to do- Is remind ourselves over and over and over: “Other people feel this too.” The tomorrow that is coming, gone And it has not gotten better When you are half finished writing that letter to your mother that says “I swear to God I tried But when I thought I hit bottom, it started hitting back” There is no bruise like the bruise of loneliness kicks into the spine So let me tell you I know there are days it looks like the whole world is dancing in the streets when you break down like the doors of the looted buildings You are not alone
"
– Andrea Gibson, The Nutritionist
"When your heart is broken you plant seeds in the cracks and pray for rain."
– Andrea Gibson
"Commit to loving yourself completely. It’s the most radical thing you will do in your lifetime."
– Andrea Gibson
"you tilt your head back you breathe 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"
"Whoever you are, and whatever helps, I hope today is a day you are finding the softest way through."
– Andrea Gibson, 6th September 2016
“Autumn is the hardest season. The leaves are all falling, and they’re falling like
they’re falling in love with the ground.”
― Andrea Gibson
"It’s okay. Everyone’s survival looks a little bit like death sometimes."
– Andrea Gibson, Angels of the Get Through
“I could never trust anyone who's well adjusted to a sick society.”
― Andrea Gibson
Asking Too Much
I want you to tell me about every person you’ve ever been in love with Tell me why you loved them, then tell me why they loved you
Tell me about a day in your life you didn’t think you’d live through Tell me what the word “home” means to you And tell me in a way that I’ll know your mothers name just by the way you describe your bed room when you were 8
See, I wanna know the first time you felt the weight of hate And if that day still trembles beneath your bones Do you prefer to play in puddles of rain or bounce in the bellies of snow? And if you were to build a snowman, would you rip two branches from a tree to build your snowman arms? Or would you leave the snowman armless for the sake of being harmless to the tree? And if you would, would you notice how that tree weeps for you because your snowman has no arms to hug you every time you kiss him on the cheek?
Do you kiss your friends on the cheek? Do you sleep beside them when they’re sad, even if it makes your lover mad? Do you think that anger is a sincere emotion or just the timid motion of a fragile heart trying to beat away its pain?
See, I wanna know what you think of your first name And if you often lie awake at night and imagine your mothers joy when she spoke it for the very first time I want you tell me all the ways you’ve been unkind. Tell me all the ways you’ve been cruel. Tell me—knowing I often picture Gandhi at ten years old beating up little boys at school.
If you were walking by a chemical plant, where smoke stacks were filling the sky with dark, black clouds, would you holler, “Poison! Poison! Poison!” really loud or would whisper, “That cloud looks like a fish, and that cloud looks like a fairy”? Do you believe that Mary was really a virgin? Do you believe that Moses really parted the sea? And if you don’t believe in miracles, tell me, how would you explain the miracle of my life to me?
"I am missing you most in the silence between songs on my favourite records. Sometimes it takes so long for the music to start."
– Andrea Gibson
"For Halloween I’m gonna be emotionally stable. No one’s gonna know its me."
– Andrea Gibson
"I may never be enlightened enough to decide how I want to die. So, this morning I’ve decided how I want to live."
– Andrea Gibson, “Enough”
"you tilt your head back you breathe 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"
– Andrea Gibson
"I wish you were here autumn is the hardest season the leaves are all falling and they’re falling like they’re falling in love with the ground and the trees are naked and lonely I keep trying to tell them new leaves will come around in the spring but you can’t tell trees those things they’re like me they just stand there and don’t listen I wish you were here I’ve been missing you like crazy I’ve been hazy eyed staring at the bottom of my glass again thinking of that time when it was so full"
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