The Love Poem Andrea Gibson Wrote for Their Widow...and for You

Modern Love

The New York Times

Love, New York Times, Nytimes, Essay, Loss, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Redemption, Nyt

4.3 • 9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Andrea Gibson was the poet laureate of Colorado and a giant of the spoken word poetry scene. This past July, Gibson died of ovarian cancer, leaving behind their devoted fans, friends, family and longtime partner, the poet Megan Falley. For the last year of Gibson’s life, a film crew followed Andrea and Megan as they navigated countless treatments and moments of triumph. In the darkest of times, their connection grew. Their deeply moving love story is the focus of a new documentary, “Come See Me in the Good Light.” On today’s episode of Modern Love, Megan Falley talks with our host Anna Martin about falling in love with Andrea Gibson and loving them through their cancer diagnosis and eventual death. Falley reckons with what it’s like to be a 37-year-old widow, and how despite Andrea being gone, they are very much still with her. The song Megan talks about in this episode is called “Hold Down The Fort.” Megan Falley’s newsletter is called “Things That Don’t Suck.” Here’s how to submit a Modern Love Essay to The New York Times. Here’s how to submit a Tiny Love Story. Listener call-out: Thanksgiving with family can be tough. We want to help. The Modern Love team wants to hear your questions about navigating tricky family situations over the holiday, and we’ll try to find answers for you. Find out how to submit your voice memo here

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everyone, it's Anna. Look, Thanksgiving is coming up already. I can hardly believe it. You can hardly believe it, but it's around the corner. And for a lot of people, Thanksgiving means seeing your family, which can be wonderful, but it can also be tricky. So if you're going to see your family this holiday season, we want to help. Is there anything you could use some advice on?
0:22.5	Like, for example, is there always a fight that comes up and you want to avoid it this year?
0:27.0	Or maybe someone's passed away and it's going to be tough without them and you'd like tips on how to navigate that.
0:32.6	Or maybe you're bringing home a new partner and you're afraid it's going to be awkward.
0:36.8	If you're looking for advice on any of these questions or other questions about dealing with your family, send us a
0:42.2	voice memo explaining your situation and asking your question. You can send it to Modern Love
0:47.2	Podcast at NYTimes.com. That's Modern Love Podcast at NYTimes.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
0:57.4	Love now and all.
0:59.0	Love was stronger than anything.
1:03.0	And I love you more than anything.
1:06.1	What's love?
1:06.9	There's to love.
1:08.2	Love.
1:16.6	From the New York Times, I'm Anna Martin. This is Modern Love. Today I'm talking to Megan Fowley. Fowley is known as an award-winning poet and is the partner of the
1:22.6	Poet Laureate of Colorado, Andrea Gibson. This past July, Gibson died after four years of living with ovarian cancer.
1:30.9	And I distinctly remember the day Andrea passed.
1:33.7	My social media was flooded with all of these heartfelt tributes to them.
1:38.4	People reposting their poems, talking about what those poems meant to them, how they helped them in really dark times.
1:45.2	It was so clear how much people felt this loss. And that made sense. Andrea Gibson was all about
1:52.4	feeling things and feeling them deeply. They even sold merch that said things like,
1:57.8	feelings are not the enemy. And in their time together, it seems like Andrea Gibson and Megan Fowley explored just about every emotion two people can have together.
2:09.2	Andrea and Megan's deeply moving love story is the focus of a new documentary called Come See Me in the Good Light.
	...

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