Haley Heynderickx

“The Bug Collector” details a relationship plagued by fear. A song about a woman, helping someone, likely a boyfriend with their demons. The narrator wants to absolve her partner of this fear– by protecting them and isolating them from the anxiety they have about the world. The narrator removes this negative force from their home. The word “slugger” here seems to imply a certain indifference to this act, though this disposition changes as the song progresses. The narrator admits that she, too, understands her partner’s worries. She recognizes the ill intent of the world and the immense destructive strength that negative forces can have in an otherwise safe relationship (as illustrated by the bugs in the house). The final line is the culmination of the work– ending on the potent note that the narrator wants her partner not only to feel safe, but to be able to appreciate the world with her, both the good and the bad, the serene and the tumultuous, the myriad beautiful forms of life that scurry the walls of their home. The title “The Bug Collector” drives this point home. It reveals that the narrator finds beauty in all the things her partner fears, and that an alleviation of that fear is not a replacement for a true change in perspective– an ability to see beauty in the ugly. - via izanorussia