Witness in the Convex Mirror explores perception, loss, and politics, taking inspiration from John Ashbery’s Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. The title’s “mirror” expands to inspect the world today — functioning more like a spy glass. Tabios zooms in and out on the workings of world politics, the plight of American immigrants, and the ethos of being female in the “Me Too” era. 

Tabios harkens back to John Ashbery’s Portrait in a Convex Mirror by beginning each poem with a line or two of Ashbery’s; she mimics his exploration of the self in the mirror and the world surrounding the self. This premise sometimes means the poems begin in medias res, and perhaps intentionally, they don’t fully resolve. In Ashbery’s version, he remarks, “But [the mirror] is life englobed.” Tabios’ collection takes this concept even further to explore current issues. At times, the reader feels as if the speaker is reaching out her arms, drawing in what she sees as the world’s mess and holding it close for a warm but stern examination. 

In poems like “Email to a Young Poet of Color,” “The Now of Heaven,” and “Eco Echo,” Tabios doesn’t shy away from blunt reactions to the political and environmental struggles we face. She writes, “As if the ill-educated parent / will not bear ill-educated children. As if billionaires would / still contribute to charities without tax-deductions.” The collection is strikingly frank. “The Optimists Ciphertext” quips, “Clarity, as lives of quiet / desperation imply, is untrustworthy.” Readers follow the speaker as she searches for something more reliable than clarity. The poems focus in and out on current culture from a precise but unforgiving angle. 

Overall, the collection reads like a social proclamation, one many will champion, though others might read as deliberately deadpan. Fans of Ashbery’s Portrait will likely enjoy the echoes of his work paired with Tabios’s take on the vantage of the convex mirror. In short, Witness in the Convex Mirror offers a biographical approach to poetry from a successful and well-published poet.