Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass (book)

Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass is the title for a currently unreleased book of poetry by Lana Del Rey. It is the first official book written by Del Rey and it will be self-published.

Background

Following Lust for Life, Del Rey had been looking for another creative outlet, and after trying painting, she found automatic writing. This process started to turn into poetry and short stories and after amassing numerous works, Del Rey began considering releasing a compilation of writings in a physical book form.

Del Rey first opened up about the poetry book during an interview with Annie Mac, on September 12, 2018, where she said that she first started writing poems in the latter half of 2017 during a period of writer's block with music:^[1]

“I think I’m just going to self-publish it and put it out beforehand. It’s kind of random. Which is kind of another one of those things I just want out there just for me. I literally might just drop these little books off at some bookstores in Silverlake and beg them to sell them. It’s been really cool for me ‘cause I was having a little bit of writer's block with the music last Fall and so I just sat down to write some words without music and I realised there was just a couple of things I wanted to say through some poems, which is funny. I feel like I’m in the 19th Century.”

She spoke again about the book on September 18, 2018, during an interview with Zane Lowe after she premiered "Venice Bitch". Del Rey stated that the book will contain short stories and about 30 poems and it will be titled Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass.

On January 2, 2019, during a video posted on Facebook, Del Rey announced that the book was finished on the last week of 2018 and that the entire writing process took 13 months.^[2]

Between February 20, 2019 and April 11, 2019, Del Rey shared various poems on her Instagram account, including "Happy",^[3] "Quiet Waiter-Blue Forever",^[4] "The Land of 1000 fires",^[5] "Never to Heaven",^[6] and "Pass the bushes cypress thriving".^[7]

Writing

Del Rey explained her process for writing poetry turned out to be notably different from her process for writing music. She said:

"It's sort of in the vein of deep poetry where anything is allowed and it's totally free-form. Sometimes my pages will end with a couplet, right at the end, but it's mostly free-form."

The title itself is from a line in one of Del Rey's favourite poems she has written. The full line being:

"Violet bent backwards over the grass
Seven-years old with dandelions grasped tightly in her hand"

Release

When the book was first mentioned on September 12, 2018 to Annie Mac during the premier of "Mariners Apartment Complex" on BBC Radio 1, Del Rey explained that she wished to release the book prior to the release of Norman Fucking Rockwell! in early 2019. When asked by a fan through Instagram about how much the book would cost, Lana said “$1… because my thoughts are priceless”.^[8]

Through a video uploaded on Instagram, Lana confirmed that the book would be released as a spoken word album on January 4, 2020. However, Del Rey later confirmed that the album will be released a month later.^[9] The current release date is unknown.

Poems

Confirmed

Unknown

Starting in March, 2019, Del Rey started posting random Haikus from her poems through social media. It is unknown if they belong to separate poems or if some of them belong to the same.

Untitled Haiku #1^[10]
- "Jasmine in the air | the burden of fame is real | never felt so clear"

Untitled Haiku #2^[11]
- "You in the soft light | the 405 from Venice | a river of red"
Untitled Haiku #3^[12]
- "Wondering if it's | astronomical twilight or civil twilight"
Untitled Haiku #4^[13]
- "I love u / But you don’t understand me | My life is my poetry | My love making is my legacy"
Untitled Haiku #5^[14]
- "You can have a life beyond your wildest dreams | all you have to do is change everything... | all you have to do is change everything | All you have to do is change everything | all you have to do is change everything"
Untitled Haiku #6^[15]
- "i measure time by the days i've spent away from you | that thought occurred to me | as i watched the sky go dark from blue"

References

[1] Beaumont, Mark (September 14, 2018) "Lana Del Rey’s new 2019 album – everything we know so far"

[2] Lana Del Rey on Facebook: "Happy New Year"

[3] ttps://www.instagram.com/p/BuFJQBQDAC5/?hl=ro

[4] ttps://www.instagram.com/p/BupT-ukjffF/

[5] ttps://www.instagram.com/p/BvbVU-_j7RN/

[6] ttps://www.instagram.com/p/BwG7HzODf2U/

[7] ttps://www.instagram.com/p/BwLH9-WDWrP/

[8] ttps://www.nme.com/news/music/lana-del-rey-says-shell-selling-upcoming-poetry-book-1-2458783

[9] [1]

[10] ttps://www.instagram.com/p/BuqUYokjK5o/

[11] ttps://www.instagram.com/p/BuqUYokjK5o/

[12] ttps://twitter.com/LanaDelRey/status/1136113007098904576

[13] ttps://www.instagram.com/p/BwLK9WGDgfI/

[14] ttps://www.instagram.com/p/BwfcDrjDFR-/

[15] ttps://www.instagram.com/p/BwfdUMbjAzy/

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]