I'm not a poetry person. Never really got on with it although some verses do hit home. I am, however, quite the Lana Del Rey fan as of recent times and was delighted to find she had written a book. If it was anything like her lyrics I felt like I'd get on with it just fine.
Now songs and poems go hand in hand I think, they are both to some kind of beat and in a grand sense are poetic, naturally you'd expect that from a poem but perhaps not necessarily a lyric. I'm not a political person, so take that as you will, it is not up for debate.
Admittedly I don't think Lana's poems are a patch on how her song lyrics hit me, but at the same time her poems are deeply personal and emotionally take a lot from you. Her poetry makes you feel a lot more than her songs, you can add your own melody to her words and they drive deep into your soul. I hadn't expected that. I'd settled down into bed for a light read and instead got punched in the feels, I scanned through her verses like some kind of poetry junkie and left the book with my head spinning. A lot of things she leaves to the reader and those emotions you pick up between her lines are what confuses me. It's the things left unsaid and unfelt that I don't think I understand. Perhaps it's because I'm too young and at the same time perhaps it is because I just haven't experienced the same thing she had, as I mentioned earlier, these poems are deeply personal and mainly to our author. She sired these words from her heart and you can see that from the fact she hand typed all these poems and left in her corrections with biro. We glimpse her word and it is utterly beautiful and yet so sad at the same time.
I appreciate her words, I really do. And for the most part the verses flow and I can follow on the stories, but in some of these poems I can't and once again that is purely down to the words unsaid. They are telling a story I am not allowed to hear and all of a sudden I feel excluded and I won't get entry until I experience what it is that's there that is meant to be felt. In this case it doesn't flow for me, I can't get into it because I can't understand it, it doesn't make any sense to me. That being said I understand enough to make a comparison, like with Lana's fascination with Chemtrails. She mentions it in one of her poems and then you've got the song Chemtrails Over the Country Club which I think is such a beautiful song and it genuinely is one of my favourites from her.
I hate that about poetry. I don't like the fact that these poems are overly personal. Let's face it, poetry is not meant to relate to anyone as deeply as it does for the writer, it is a story written for them by them and it's a telling of their woes. We can't hope to understand someone's life they have chosen to pour on paper, we just hope to relate to a line or a single poem. There is no shame in saying I do not relate to Lana, after all we are not the same, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy her work, even if I don't understand what she is trying to say.
Poetry is like a language. Now I am quite good at picking up languages, and I suppose in a way I can be quite poetic. My trouble is, much like my lessons in French, Greek and Arabic, I am very good at spouting a language but not so good at understanding it. I can speak poetry very well, I can spill my lifeblood on the pages until there is nothing left, I just don't understand it when I read it unless I find myself between the spaces. Unless it applies to me I don't listen, I suppose that sums up human nature.
The same goes to Lana's photography. Beautiful in snapshots alone if you can appreciate whirlwind snaps of urban life and lonely specters, but I don't see the association with the poems. It seems like it's a showcase of talent but I don't understand any of it, does it even need to be understood? Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass is a small book full of big pictures, in the literal sense and the figurative sense. Sadly it has all gone right over my head but I can say one thing, Lana has left me wishing I could interpret her meaning, I can tell she is throwing herself into telling me something but I don't know what it is.
What's worse is that I have dedicated a whole review to a wonderful book, and I know it seems negative but I don't mean it in that way at all, and I can't fully appreciate it. I don't want this to dissuade you from picking it up, it's an intriguing book, and the poetry is raw and original, she really is a talented woman. I just don't have the capacity to understand other peoples poetry and maybe that's why I hate the style of writing. I doesn't fit me. Or maybe it fits me too well so I try too hard to relate and understand and don't catch the deeper meaning. I just don't know. All I know is I can't get on with it.
What I will say to add a positive spin on this, is that this book is overly original. I can't think of another personal work that leaves in the original draft as well as the published version of somebodies verses. I can't think of a single medium I have viewed recently that gives me such a clear insight into the workings of the artist and I suppose a clear window into their mind. Lana is sharing this with us, she is sharing her lively hood, sharing this personal insight as if we are friends. She wants us to know her inner mind and ultimately that we are not alone. And that my darlings is beauty in itself, I may not have enjoyed this book as much as I had hoped I would, but the fact I can acknowledge it has potential to the right person is enough. I can appreciate Lana, I can appreciate her art, and therefore it is worthy of being shouted from the rooftops, I willingly promoted this because I so badly want someone to enjoy it in a way that I can't. These verses need to be loved, just not by me. I want you to find yourself in her words... please.
To wrap it up then, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass is a book worthy of a 6/10. If I were in an artistic frame of mind I'd look deeper into those snapshots and see something meaningful. If I had a broken heart I'd hide into her words and find a home. But at this stage in my life I am not experiencing anything other than living, poetry is something you relate to in order to enjoy, how can I enjoy something so heartfelt when my heart is not in it? It is a good read, and a better one if you understand it, so I am afraid this review may seem a little bias but I can't take away from the fact I wouldn't have bothered to continue reading if it wasn't for the fact I am a fan of her music which does speak to me. It's wild how I can relate to one form of lyrical genius over another from the same artist. Regardless, it certainly doesn't take away the fact the lass is talented. Singer, model, writer, poet, and photographer, what a special human being, I take my hat off to her!
What a wild time it has been, but at least in the UK rumour has it things are going to look up a little! Touch wood! Wherever you are I hope you are living life as safely but as largely as you can, after all life is meant to be enjoyed and if ever there was a time to try something new (if it is safe) it's during lockdown!
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