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“i wanted to be laura palmer,/ even when i saw her wrapped in plastic,/with blue lips and dead eyes./i wasn’t supposed to want that,/but i did,” the speaker says in Juliette van der Molen’s poem, “I Wanted to be Laura Palmer.”

Thirty years ago, when Twin Peaks first aired, the world became fascinated by the story of Laura Palmer. On the surface, she was a beauty queen, the popular girl in school who turned up dead. Underneath, she was more than just a pretty face, and she was more than just the trope of the dead girl.

The strength of this anthology is that even if you have not watched the show, these poems are strong enough to be read on their own. The work here is absolutely staggering. There are some real bangers by Jack Bedell, Kailey Tedesco, Monique Quintana, Juliette van der Molen, Lauren Milici, and Adrian Ernesto Cepeda.

The poems all present a different look into the town, as well as the large cast of the show. There are wide array of perspectives, each poem giving a different look into Twin Peaks. There are many different lenses through which the view the show, and there are many different ways to love this cult classic.

These Poems Are Not What They Seem is a must-read for all fans of Twin Peaks. I highly recommend the anthology, which was edited by Justin Karcher and Kristin Garth, and is available now through Apep Publications.