Thomas Jackson on Justin Bigos’ “Fix Your Hearts or Die” 

I love the suggestion of this poem of introducing David Lynch to younger generations through an old Twin Peaks coaster. I created this collage, which I affectionately call “Mr. Heart” after reading your poem “Fix Your Hearts or Die”. I love the title, which is a line pulled from Twin Peaks: The Return as a response to transphobes. I love the highlight this poem places on the often sage advice younger generations can provide towards empathy and tolerance. Here, zombies should fix their hearts so they stop trying to eat other people’s. In the collage, I wanted to personify the heart, so I aimed to make it look like both a face and a heart. The heart that the speaker’s daughter touches, one that pumps blood and beats for new life brought into this world. Our poems unite in the depiction of mess and credit card bills inherent to modern life. I love the idea of people dying inside and still walking around doing their day-to-day life. As someone who has lived with depression, this really resonated with me, the feeling of being lost, aimlessly moving through the world. In the collage, I included two silhouettes, to represent the speaker and their wife, and a Lion to represent the daughter. There’s a vivacious ferocity, a real aliveness to the way her worldview is represented. I love the description of being in a partnership for years before “opening up” to the prospect of progeny. The love between a father and daughter so evident in this piece that I also wanted the lion to represent the fierceness of that love, and the passion to protect. Such a brief scene has so many layers, enriched by the recent tragic passing of Lynch. It makes me wonder what it will be like once the daughter is of age to watch his work, how this time capsule of a poem will read when shared with an older her.