Review of “All the Things I Want to Tell You” by C. J. Canino

Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)

All the Things I Want to Tell You is an intensely personal collection of poems and poetic prose written by C. J. Canino during her teenage years. Rather than telling one continuous story, the book creates an emotional autobiography. It records the thoughts the speaker struggles to say aloud to her parents, friends, first love, God, society, younger self, and even the person she sees in the mirror.

Gosh, we have to say: this is probably the best poetry book we've read in a year or so. This is extraordinary! Truly!

Every poem feels so genuine, honest, and lived in. Everything in this book feels earned. There's so much pain. So much suffering. So much blood, sweat, and tears. There's so much introspection. So much thoughtfulness. Conscientiousness. Consideration.

So much love. So much fear. So much anger, confusion, longing, guilt, self-doubt, hope, and healing.

There's just something about the writing in this poetry book that gripped us, grabbed us, and wouldn't let go.

These are more than just words. More than just beautiful lines crafted to wow, impress, and amaze.

You know what... maybe that's why this book was received so well by us. It's because it seem authentic. It's not trying to impress anyone. It's not trying too hard. It wasn't written to win awards or make a ton of money being published.

And yet... it's still beautiful, still powerful, still eloquent, still meaningful.

Every piece of this book seems to come from the heart, from the soul. It's an expression of the author's personal thoughts and personal pains and personal experiences. And, many times, she seems just as lost and bewildered as we are--trying to find herself, her identity. Trying to figure everything out.

The opening poem, “Chimera,” establishes the central conflict. The speaker is logical but emotional, confident but insecure, loving but capable of lashing out, academically gifted but mentally exhausted. She sees herself as something assembled from contradictions. From there, the collection explores depression, anxiety, perfectionism, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, friendship, romantic love, faith, queerness, family, grief, school pressure, sexual assault, school shootings, environmental destruction, and the painful experience of being dismissed by adults.

Canino frequently transforms emotions into creatures. Sadness is made of broken glass. Anger is a parasite. Fear is a puppeteer and spider. Joy is an enormous St. Bernard. Hope is a dangerous magician. Love is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Together, these recurring figures create an internal mythology in which the speaker’s mind becomes an ocean, battlefield, burning forest, storm, garden, and haunted house.

 The collection begins in fragmentation and self-hatred. Poems such as “The Ocean Depths,” “First Steps,” “Hell Hound,” “Golden Girl,” and “Hidden Hatred” depict a young person who is frightened by her own thoughts and convinced that every mistake proves she is fundamentally defective. Some of the darkest poems confront suicide, sexual violence, school shootings, bullying, and the consequences of adults failing to listen.

Love becomes both the speaker’s greatest source of comfort and her most persistent wound. “Crush,” “Golden Hour,” “My Beautiful Girl,” “A Letter to My First Love,” “Jealousy,” and “Bittersweetness” trace the exhilaration of falling for another girl, the security of being held and understood, the anxiety of abandonment, the collapse of the relationship, and the difficult realization that something can be real and meaningful without lasting forever. These poems do not reduce the former girlfriend to a villain. The speaker gradually acknowledges that fear, insecurity, miscommunication, and emotional instability caused pain on both sides.

Faith runs alongside that romantic story rather than opposing it. “Something Beautiful” finds peace in an empty church, while the long poem “Father and Child” presents an ambitious conversation with God about suffering, free will, imperfection, forgiveness, and the nature of the Creator. The prose piece “Sinner” then connects Catholic faith with the speaker’s queer identity. Its conclusion is one of the clearest expressions of the book’s worldview: her capacity to love another girl is not the sin; cruelty, hatred, and the ordinary failures of being human are what require repentance.

The later poems move toward healing without pretending that recovery is complete. “Let Go of Her” releases the wounded child the speaker once was. “Secret Smiles” allows her to recognize that mistakes are pieces of the puzzle rather than the entire picture. “Wildflowers” and “Patchwork Quilt” celebrate the friends whose love has helped construct her identity. “A Mother’s Love” provides one of the collection’s warmest and most mature reflections, showing how patient love can shape someone without destroying what makes them unique. By “Dear Reader,” writing itself has become survival: the words that could have suffocated her have been transformed into art.

This is a remarkably courageous and emotionally intelligent debut, especially from a writer who was sixteen and seventeen while creating it. Canino’s greatest strength is not technical perfection. It is her willingness to reveal thoughts that most people conceal, including jealousy, resentment, dependency, shame, spiritual doubt, fear of abandonment, and the frightening belief that love must be earned through perfection. She is often perceptive enough to recognize that her feelings are not necessarily objective truth, but they remain emotionally true in the moment. That distinction gives the collection unusual honesty.

The strongest pieces combine raw feeling with a sustained image or dramatic situation. “Chimera” is an excellent opening self-portrait. “Fingers Crossed,” in which the speaker meets her younger self and asks her to remain alive, is heartbreaking. “Splintered Perfection” powerfully portrays the frustration of receiving generic advice when what someone needs is understanding. “Golden Hour” is vivid, intimate, and cinematic. “Patchwork Quilt” turns individual friendships into pieces of a larger identity. “A Mother’s Love” balances accountability with compassion. “Sinner” may be the strongest prose selection because it brings the collection’s themes of faith, love, identity, guilt, and acceptance together in one coherent personal narrative. 

The writing in this book is extraordinary. This book features some of our favorite quotes and passages of the year, including:

* “It doesn’t matter
If you’re drowning
In an ocean of thoughts
Or a puddle of tears
You’re still
Equally
Dead

I tried
To face the leviathans
Hidden under the waves…”

Gosh, how can you not be blown away by the aquatic marine imagery in this passage?

* “Because hate only grows
Like a cancer
Spreading outward
Like an oil stain
Shaking the foundation
Like an earthquake
Flooding the streets
Like a hurricane
Burning down the house
Like a wildfire…”

Great use of similes!

* “What do I do?
I write. I put the words I cannot tell you onto paper, wishing you could see them and knowing you should not.”

* “I am who I am, broken, burning, beautiful. I am human, and when humans hurt, they create art. I am human. I write poetry to process the pain. This is what I do.”

What an outstanding poetry collection!

It is set to be released in October 2026.