Book Review: Some Things I Still Can't Tell You: Poems by Misha Collins

 

Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You: Poems

by Misha Collins

 

There is something very intimate about this collection of poems. The moments captured and shared are sometimes very personal, important to the poet. Presumably, that is what made them worth preserving. Others are more universal, and yet still strangely intimate. The back of the book speaks of his trademark “piercing vulnerability.” I think vulnerability is a very apt phrase for this collection.

There are moments in our lives that are important only to us, we all have them. Translating them into something worth pondering for others takes interpretation. I found an exploration of the world and life as a theme that I could very much relate to.

I tend toward eschewing rules when it comes to poetry so I couldn’t tell you if Collins breaks them. I’m unsure of many rules when it comes to poetry. (For example, I’ve received a critique that I rhyme when I shouldn’t, though I don’t set out to rhyme.) I understand meter but have much more trouble recognizing stress and unstressed syllables. I prefer to punctuate and capitalize as if writing a sentence, but Collins capitalizes each line. I found that mildly annoying at first but, much like reading the lack of punctuation in Kent Haruf’s writing, I soon adapted to it.

Collins covers a lot of ground, grouped into poems on Love / Hope, joy, running & other good things / Longing, sadness, running & foreboding / My people (& other people) / The parents /  The kids. But the poems often feel incredibly disparate, snapshots, rather than a running continuity as some collections do. They cover a wide span of years, with a sort of timelessness that leaves the reader wondering when something occurred in his life.

The cover is a lovely eagle’s eye view of a city scape at night, the points of light between the lighter and deeper blue of the sky, and the dark of the foreground below. The words are given an ombré effect as they fade a little into the city scape. A lovely cover.

I was surprised that the author worked in the White House and at NPR headquarters before beginning his acting career, which is where I knew him from best, for his role as the Angel Castiel in Supernatural.

A very enjoyable collection to ponder over a cup of coffee.