Greg Morgan
Features Editor

Last Friday in the Mesa State Experimental Theater, more commonly known “as the black box,” it was a night of words, rhymes, and rhythms. The Gay Straight Alliance presented a performance by the slam poet Andrea Gibson.
Before Gibson took the spotlight, GSA had several opening performers who were not strangers to the Mesa State campus.
The performers included two students and two faculty members, and in true form to GSA, it was a diverse mixture of characters. First to open the show was Dr. Jerry Moorman, a marketing professor, who read poetry from his book “A Body Less Perfect” which spoke about his experiences growing up in the south with cerebral palsy. Following Dr. Moorman was non-traditional student and self-proclaimed soccer mom Suzanne Bronson who read from her book, as well as shared some of her newer yet-to-be published work. After Bronson was a professor of Latin and Greek, Dr. Luis Lopez. He read from his book, “Each Month I Sing” which won the American Book Award. The last opening act was student Tanner Schneller, who sang an array of songs he had written about life as a student and life in general as he accompanied himself on the guitar. It was quite the line up of decorated local talent. After a brief intermission it was Gibson’s turn to face the audience.
She nonchalantly took the stage. It was hers. No one questioned it. All eyes were on her.
As she recited her work she took time to give the audience her commentary on her work and her life in between poems.
She had grown up in Maine and went through her life continuing to investigate her sexual and gender identities. Coming from a background where who she “was” wasn’t always clear, the people around her often misunderstood her. She was often confused with being a man.
“I’m as about as butch as a Swedish male figure skater,” she said while reciting a poem.
Many of her works deal with the human condition, both good and bad.
She questioned the roles and titles given to women and men. In one poem, she wondered what would she call herself if no one else had a name for her. “I want to know what the kite called itself when it got away,” Gibson said.
“For the dime you gave away when you didn’t have a penny,” Gibson said in a poem titled “Say Yes.”
A re-occurring theme was giving until there was nothing left to give and that was reflective of her performance. She spread her words, her soul, and her life story over the audience in the form of orderly rhythms, rhymes, and gestures. She never held back and no subject was too taboo.
Her poem, “Ashes,” was inspired by a story she heard of a gay member of the military who was murdered by his comrads as they set him on fire and let him burn.
“All they know of hate is that they couldn’t beat the love out of me,” said Gibson.
She also spoke of other injustices in the world. “I do not wear a welcome mat on my chest so you can walk all over it,” she said while reciting another poem.
Her poem “I Do” spoke of the injustices of marriage discrimination and the conflict about allowing “queer marriage.”
It was a night of words and wit. Many different perspectives were shared from all walks of life. The goal of GSA president Amanda Williams and vice president Eli McKay was to educate and entertain. The only way anyone could not be enlightened that Friday evening is if they refused to listen.