Stuck in a rut, spoken-word poet Veronica Sandoval attended last night’s Andrea Gibson performance in hopes of feeling something.

“As I sat here, I was weeping through most,” Sandoval said. “I came here to feel and I felt.”

Sandoval, a gift planning specialist for the WSU Foundation, said she has a need to be moved, and Gibson did that in her performance at the CUB Auditorium.

Gibson writes and performs her poems based off her own experiences or those around her. Her poetry centers around her experiences as a queer woman, with bullying, war and love, and some poems incorporate all those themes into one.

Gibson has written for most of her life, and she has a reason.

“When I’m writing, it’s the time I feel most okay,” she said in an interview with The Daily Evergreen after the performance. “The rest of the time I don’t feel that okay.”

Gibson performed not only with her words, but also her body, using foot stomps, pointing fingers and clasped hands to express her emotion.

“Love drove me to the mic,” she said.

Audience members throughout the auditorium said they felt her performance, including Ray Lechett, a sophomore fine arts major.

“I think she puts a lot of heart and emotion in the way she performs,” Lechett said.

Some attendees, like community member Rebecca Rod, lived through many of the same experiences Gibson described.

“I’ve certainly been in the situation when I’ve been in the woman’s bathroom and been asked if I knew it was a woman’s bathroom,” Rod said.

Lechett identified with her poetry, too.

“Most of the stuff about being in between genders, being confused for a boy or for a girl,” he said.

But Gibson also reciprocates the identification, which she demonstrated in her work.

“Some people will never understand the kind of super power it takes for some people to just walk outside,” she said in a poem.

Meeting with the people after shows is her favorite part, Gibson said.

“It’s really nice to be constantly reminded that you’re not alone,” she said.