"In the Flats of Melrose" is a poem released by Lana Del Rey for her first poetry book Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass.
Background
The poem was not released digitally unlike many other poems by Del Rey.
Cross-references
- Topanga is also mentioned in "Heroin" and "The Next Best American Record".
- Del Rey also mentions 'two cats in the yard' in "How to Disappear".
- The phrase "you're so cool" also appears in "Heavy Hitter" and "Wolf T-Shirt".
Poem
What will it take for me not to feel like the train will
run away with me bound up like the sad heroine tied to the last
car
What will it take for me not to need you
so I can just have you for fun
and for who you really are
Not you as the savior
not me as Ophelia
not us putting our faith in the public's dark art
Topanga on Sunday?
two cats in the yard
NPR rumbling quietly
a fire in the hearth
me with a knowingness deep in my heart
that nothing could stop me no valley too far
to walk through in darkness to keep us apart.
And that we dont need fighting to find resolution
that not every marriage ends in dissolution
that I don't need you
but I want you
because you're so cool
and that I'm not damaged
and ur not hell-bent on being some indie director
or whatever pipe dream you and your friends are smoking
That it's enough just for us
to be sitting in the flats of Melrose
my heart on fire
a tallboy cracked open
I love you Josiah
I'm sorry I'm still broken
but I couldd still make you happy.
Let's pour one out
to knowing
not hoping