Gephyromania

by T.C. Tolbert

The New Series #63

Genres: Poetry, Queer, Transgender, LGBT

102 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Grace Greggory Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Born and raised a girl in a small town in Tennessee as a speaking-in-tongues Pentecostal before coming out as queer, feminist, anti-racist, and trans-masc.” Gephyromania (meaning an obsession with bridges) is the poet’s bridge marking the space between what was and what is.

Once upon a time a line saw itself
clear to its end. I have seen the shape
of happiness. (y=mx+b)
I am holding it. It is your hand.

‘What Space Faith Can Occupy’
– TC Tolbert, Gephyromania

This is memorable work. There is so much in these pages, some of it quite difficult and violent to read, but the careful use of form, language, and punctuation work to create emotional distance where that is needed, and then bring us smoothly into a closer confidence when the need for distance passes.

In addition to this volume of poems, Tolbert has curated a trove of poetry resources for a project called Trans/Space: Trans, Non-binary, and Queer+ Poetry. (T+ENBY+Q+) poetry that is well worth your time in looking up and browsing through.

[Jo B · Rating 5 out of 5]

"to water, the body is still mostly land"

Gephyromania: fascination, obsession pour les ponts <3

[Emily]

"I keep thinking I want to
fall in love with you but love
is so much constancy and.

I is so many words."

[Sarah Cavar · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up. This is a demanding, rigorous text that simultaneously embraces & amplifies queer and trans tenderness, ultimately exploring what we can do with bodies, poetics, archives, and relationalities at the moment that words fail, turn to holes.

[Greg Bem · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt my insides reconverge after long moments of loneliness in their previous sad opinions, the waves of the textures of the air from the breath of the language shuddering me, calming me, thrust to the sky of daylight and pregnant night.

[Maja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful sensitivity and strong lines, but maybe I lacked references (or simply put was too stupid) to understand it in its full scope.

[Shilo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I literally do not know how to review this book but it built a bridge to my heart. 🖤🔥

[Steve Chisnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are great empathetic discoveries to be made in both the words and spaces Tolbert creates in Gephyromania (the madness, perhaps from a few of crossing bridges--and yes, definitely a metaphor, not merely for the trans- community). They are subtle, often very intimate, and--on the surface--often casually displayed.

The narrative camera zooms in and pans wide abruptly, first offering an image of close physicality and awe, then snapping back to a diction of distance and obscurantism. This is often disorienting, and it can leave readers scratching heads at what one line has to do with the next. I found much of it, then, at its worst, perhaps too sybaritic, too self-indulgent in its confessionalism and leaving the reader behind to fend for themselves.

Nevertheless, what Tolbert leaves for the work as a whole is a nuanced portrait of an identity resistant to simplification and political label, one that risks pronouncement, and one just earnestly human. The tragedy is that this must be marked as a valid literary goal for the queer community. The praise for Tolbert I can offer is that he does not stop there.

And while I can admire the courage in the face of struggles he has lived, translating that onto a page, even with the gifted lines that pepper their way through this book, is still a different feat altogether.

[kat johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow. tolbert’s way of utilizing form is consistently inventive, refreshing, and impactful throughout this collection of fragile, pungent, powerful poetry. tolbert’s musings on gender, intimacy, and bridging various parts of being alive were so so spectacular to read. many of the poems i had to read and reread to understand and process, which i absolutely LOVED. i cannot say enough good things about this collection. “thaw” has been a favorite poem of mine for years and i’m so glad i finally got my hands on this collection.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading poems from an old MFA colleague from 2003 is slightly trippy. I felt this distant kinship even though our lives have been disentangled for 20 years. I remember workshopping poems with the same sensibilities but none of the range that this book covers. I can only congratulate the care and rigor I know it took to make a thing this complicated sing.

[Tori Welhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a maestro of language!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I know this like I know you are more lonely than glass."

[Elliel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gephyromania by TC Tolbert was an unfortunately frustrating read. I also feel like I did the book a disservice by reading it after MissSettl (which had a profound affect on me). I read it as an ebook on hoopla through my local library. Hoopla has odd formatting and the app truly failed this book. Especially considering this book of poetry had many unusually formatted poems. (Unless it didn't and hoopla is more messed up than I thought).

Despite the technological issues I had while reading this book I still enjoyed it. I liked the poems that my brain allowed me to focus on. I expected so much from this book. I had hoped that reading a poetry collection by a fellow transmasc person I would feel something. Solidarity, grief, joy, anything? But I didn't. I believe I was too distracted for the poems to actually affect me.

Overall, Gephyromania was a good read even with the issues I had. I really hope to reread this collection when I can read the physical copy. I also want to read more of TC Tolbert's work.

[Joe]

"our music undone periscopically
the pornography remains inexhaustible.
a white flag fading at the root."

"She remembers that there are names, kinder names,
for the accidental bruising left by witness. And
sedulous in her canter these are illegible. With a mouth
full of tinder."

"If the theory
is that misogyny is throat culture. For
people with mothers. I take it back. I have
to give it to you. But, first. I take it back."

"Now that you are dead I can say this. Somehow I ended up with your hand towels."

Enjoyed through and through--a collection of echoes, causeways, harsh interruptions, and folds. Got me thinking a lot about the relationship between memory and gender.

[Rob Hendricks]

"Because gender is syntax, personified," it is syntax especially from which Tolbert makes art. "Pound, whatever." Tolbert raises the stakes. Not just to "make it new," but to "cultivate disparation."

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

An innovative and challenging work. Tolbert's poems were true to the author and left much for the reader to figure out.