Poetry Chapbook Watch: My Heart is a Mausoleum but Only of Necessity by Stephanie Tom

My Heart is a Mausoleum but Only out of Necessity by Stephanie Tom is a chapbook from The Glass Chapbook Series released in May 2023. I am here in the year 2025 reading this chapbook because I like to take a look at different books on the Glass Press website, and this one caught my eye with its stunning cover art by Ann Gao and interesting title. My favorite aspects of this chapbook are the ways that the poet uses folklore, such as in the poem "Huli Jing Goes on a Date," as well as allusions to fiction/pop culture with Azula from Nickelodeon's hit show Avatar: The Last Airbender as parts of her poems. There are several standout lines in each poem that give a reader something to think on as they go through this creative exploration of identity, race, ethnicity, and womanhood. A few poems that really caught my eye are: "Self-Portrait as CAPTCHA," "The Aviary of Untamed Birds," and "Alternate Universe in which Batgirl Looks like Me." I read for the simple pleasures of enjoying art and the many ways people can condense their souls onto the page for us to read, I also read to think deeply about the world I live in.

As such, I have to address that I write this review in June 2025 as a Chicanx/Latine person, so in my heart about the numerous changes in immigration policy as well as the discrimination towards any immigrant. This time, it is targeted towards Mexican/Latin American immigrants, and several lines from poems in this chapbook hit the nail on the head for some feelings I've been having. It is my opinion that America frequently overlooks or fails to recognize the contributions of many minority groups that help improve the country, which is why the first stanza of "The Aviary of Untamed Birds" left me agape with how honest and real it is. Both in "The Aviary of Untamed Birds" and in "Alternate Universe in which Batgirl Looks like Me," I really appreciate the bite that some lines have criticizing the way in which Asians and Asian Americans are being treated in the United States at the time of writing/publication:

"They want

to pack me in a box and send me back

to a country I've never been to before...

This country wants to make a meal out of

me, express take-out as soon as possible."

(lines 23-25, 27-28 "Alternate Universe in which Batgirl Looks like Me").

Often identity is made to be political, and these lines bring up ideas of the United States' consumerist culture that prides itself not on the people working to make the country a better place—often immigrants—but on how people's work can benefit a company's bottom line. To me, it brings ideas of how many people want immigrants and minorities to make themselves small and easy to chew on so that they can be more palatable in white majority spaces. These two poems are ones that I'll gladly read out loud and will be telling the girls in the chat about so that we can all discuss it together both to think about the greater themes of the poem and to admire the artistry of the writing.

While I personally love the references to Azula and Cassandra Cain (as any lifelong geek can attest to), I found myself captured by "Self-Portrait as CAPTCHA" both because of its form and the content. "Self-Portrait as CAPTCHA" is a dynamic poem that caught my eye when first reading because of how it is set to replicate the feeling of trying to get into a website that's trying to verify your identity. It separates the poem into several parts with numbers and questions that then break into sections that explore identity and drip into the political. To me, the sections of the poem that break the almost everyday questions are fascinating to read. Personally, I like poetry that plays with form and language at the same time. This free verse is unconventional, and admittedly I got a bit confused on how to read this one because of the form. I reread the poem multiple times in multiple ways, which led to new insights and quickly bumped this poem to being my favorite out of this chapbook. A CAPTCHA is that annoying question that pops up often when trying to log in to a device that asks the user to pick a specific picture pattern until the site has verified that the user is human, and shows the sterility of modern life. But the poet's use of this idea as a medium for exploring her identity is so creative.

Overall, I'm very happy I checked this chapbook My Heart is a Mausoleum but Only out of Necessity by Stephanie Tom and look forward to reading more from Tom and from Glass Poetry Press's chapbook collection.

Visit https://glass-poetry.com to buy this chapbook or others from Glass Poetry Press.