Actor, activist and author, Misha Collins has attained a major artistic achievement with his debut book of poetry, “Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You.”
“Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You” is a collection of poems Collins has written over the past 20 years. It’s a timeline of incredibly intimate moments from his life that explore his relationship with the world around him.
Collins writes with brutally honest simplicity. Although minimalistic, his style is incredibly expressive of the emotional weight these small moments in life carry — such as in “Suddenly,” where he writes about finding the magic of life in a severed piece of grass, or in “Old Bones,” where he recalls watching his mother share her breakfast with her old dog. He manages to layer every poem with meaning without over exaggerated words and phrases.
Collins’ writing also feels very true to the man himself. He writes as though he is letting the reader in on an inside joke. It encompasses all of the wit and charm the author is known for. His eccentric personality shines through in poems such as “Negativity Bias,” where he describes an encounter where a literature professor told him no one would want to read his works: “And, when I write, I am writing / Mostly just for me. / And Costya, my dear Costya / If you don’t like it / You may set this down at any time.”
On the flip side, many of the poems are deeply personal and vulnerable. Despite the fact all of the poems are written from Collins’ perspective on his experiences, they’re exceptionally relatable (at times, even painfully so). There’s something empathic about the simplistic nature of the poems. They’re specific to Collins, yet leave so much room for the reader to insert themselves into the stories. Readers will find themselves reflecting on their own lives alongside Collins.
Perhaps the most wonderful thing about this book is not how it beautifully catalogues moments of Collins’ life, but how it examines the experience of being alive. We tend to measure life in huge events, but the truth is that life is more made up of hours staring at the wall and crying over who knows what, of minutes waiting in the car for the rain to stop, of seconds exchanged with strangers who say the darndest things. Even something as monumental as falling in love doesn’t happen in one small moment — it’s a tumultuous process of feelings that build up and overflow. Collins has masterfully collected all of this in 144 pages.
Although this is Collins’ first book of poetry, he’s previously had solo poems published in literary journals such as “California Quarterly” and “Columbia Poetry Review.” “Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You” reached No. 4 on the New York Times Best Sellers upon it’s Oct. 12 release and has immediately become a favorite among his fans.
“Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You” is a whirlwind of joy, sadness, love and grief that celebrates the mundane things in life. Joyous and heartbreaking, it serves as a reminder that there is victory in finding a neat blade of grass.