As if it were a jump shot from their basketball-obsessed childhood, “soaring towards the rim like a kite,” Andrea Gibson could send a spoken word poem spinning through space and time knowing it would reach its perfect home — swishing to a close in the last lines, nothing but net.

Andrea Gibson, acclaimed poet and performance artist, died on July 14 at age 49, following a diagnosis with ovarian cancer. The Poet Laureate of Colorado published seven poetry collections, and was the subject of the 2025 documentary ‘Come See Me in the Good Light.