Singer Lana Del Rey finally released her long awaited book of poetry, “Violet Bent Backwards Over The Grass” Sept 29. Del Rey is most known for her dynamic music and moving lyrics. She has often made her music like poetry and fans immediately fell in love with the thought of a poetry book.

The book of poetry has an angelic cover art along with stunning pictures of people, places and things. The cover is artistic oranges on a tree, with the blue sky behind it. The book’s font looks to be written from a typewriter, including white out mistakes and pen inserts to give the book more of an old appealing vibe.

The book includes many poems about Los Angeles, her love for California, her career and more. She leaked  “LA Who Am I To Love You?” two months before the initial release and personally this is my favorite poem. I love how she writes about LA belonging to her, not her belonging to LA. The elegance from this poem is truly phenomenal. “LA Who Am I To Love You?” is about Del Rey longing for LA while she is staying in San Francisco, and saying she only belongs there.

Another poem involved Bob Dylan and Vernon, Calif, saying “I hear Dylan when I look at you,” which might be inferred she is talking about Dylan’s song “California.” 

 The book is really eye opening as the poems can be interpreted in many ways. Del Rey takes the means to the next level, like her learning how to fly a plane. She described this experience as becoming her own navigator. Or a memory she shared about seeing Jim Morrison at the Hollywood Bowl, recalling “he looked out of his body.”

I highly recommend this book of poetry, it is a journey to read with all the wondrous analogies and life experiences. Originally the book was supposed to be a dollar because Del Rey’s thoughts are “priceless.” However it ended up being $25 per copy, but she is donating most of the money to the Navajo Water Project. The book is also available on Audible.Even though Del Rey has been making poetry through her music since the beginning of her career, this book extends the amount of purpose of her words.

Contact Hailey Paddock at [email protected]