“Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass” hardcover Poetry Book Pre-Release Thread

[Rorman Nockwell 56,971]

I'd be surprised if this book wasn't a kind of thematic precursor for the record. Bc I get how it'd seem supplementary if released after, but from what we know, thats simply just not the case.

 

The burning question is, though, if Kevin Abstract will be so inspired by it that he'll release a poetry book? And reference chem trails and Tesla?

 

Also, is Elizabeth's book even called "Violets" any more? Didn't she say, "here are my photos for "The Land of 1000 Fires?"" in an IG post? I think one of the poems was called that, but she made it sound like it was the name of the book.

[slang 1,533]

…

 

"Violet bent backwards over the grass" (and the ultraviolet (not violence) reference is America gone amok and offtrack

and to me pictures a title like Paul Simon's quite poetic "Rene and Georgette Magritte and their dog After the War (the dogs name)

which segues into French later on. And also Simon's "Kodachrome" song, and the horrific "My little town" with its last line conjuring up 

images of Lana's Is this Happiness.

 

...

 

 

 

So there's a song on the Simon and Garfunkel album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme,

"Flowers Never Bend with The Rainfall". I'm wondering if her poetry book title (if it's still titled: Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass) is possibly a flipside perspective to that song lyric. As such, her book title could be a death reference of sorts (not a helluva surprise, in hindsight).

 

here's an excerpt of the S & G song:

 

So I'll continue to continue to pretend

My life will never end

And flowers never bend

With the rainfall

 

full lyrics:

https://genius.com/Simon-and-garfunkel-flowers-never-bend-with-the-rainfall-lyrics

 

I also noticed that I noticed the "continue to continue" lyric reminding me of that "thinking that I thought" lyric in HIADT (great minds lyric alike). I'll opine (as everybody's a poem critic these days) "continue to pretend to pretend" might have been better. It makes my brain hurt a little more, and you really can't have too many "end" syllables in that stanza of Simon's.

[divebarsinger 2,715]

keep wondering if this poetry book is just lyrics she's scrapped and repackaged 

[Rorman Nockwell 56,971]

keep wondering if this poetry book is just lyrics she's scrapped and repackaged 

 

Well she said she just felt like sitting down and writing shit that wasn't lyrics and that's how the poetry came about.

 

But she lies about stuff all the time so you could be right.

[Rorman Nockwell 56,971]

OK first thoughts about the new poem (and I might be wrong af, but ... my initial thoughts):

 

 

Stay on your path Sylvia Plath
don't fall away like all the others

Don't take all your secrets alone to your watery grave about
lovers and mother

The secrets you keep will keep you in deep like Father and Amy and brother
And all of the people you meet on the street will reiterate lies that she uttered

Leave me in peace I cry
late at night on a slow boat bound for Catalina for no reason

Tiny beads of sweat dot my forehead
could be mistaken for dew drops if this were photo season.

But alas this is a real life - and it's been a real fight just to
keep my mind from committing treason.
Why you ask?
Because she told the towns people I was crazy and the lies they started to believe them

But anyway - I've moved on now

And now that I've gone scorched earth
I'm left wondering where to go from here.
To Sonoma where the fires have just left?
South Dakota?

Would standing in front of Mount Rushmore feel like the Great
American homecoming I never had?

Would the magnitude of the scale of the sculpture take the place of the warm embrace I've never known.

Or should I just be here now
In the kitchen
Bare feet on linoleum
Bored - but not unhappy
Cutting vegetables over boiling water that I will later turn
into stew

 

She's roasting her mother.

She = Sylvia Plath (makes sense, 'cos she compared herself to her in Hope)

 

Don't take all your secrets alone to your watery grave about
lovers and mother

 

^ she's already told us a SHITLOAD about her lovers, so

 

The secrets you keep will keep you in deep like Father and Amy and brother
And all of the people you meet on the street will reiterate lies that she uttered

 

But alas this is a real life - and it's been a real fight just to
keep my mind from committing treason.
Why you ask?
Because she told the towns people I was crazy and the lies they started to believe them

 

Amy = Chuck maybe? Or another relo. And I interpret it as being about when her parents kicked her out and sent her to boarding school, and it sounds like she blames her mum ..."the towns people" = people in her hometown?

 

"Committing treason" would be betraying your own family member, surely. So in other words, she won't tell anyone what a bitch her mum was .. although she just did with this poem, hence:

 

And now that I've gone scorched earth

 

Would standing in front of Mount Rushmore feel like the Great
American homecoming I never had?

 

Didn't get to have a normal schooling with homecoming n shit, maybe?

Would the magnitude of the scale of the sculpture take the place of the warm embrace I've never known.
 

= never had a good relationship with her mum

[NamiraWilhelm 5,050]

Would standing in front of Mount Rushmore feel like the Great
American homecoming I never had?

 

 

This feels like a reference to the backlash she received post SNL and her not being the American sweetheart she'd hoped...

[Barry 5,974]

OK first thoughts about the new poem (and I might be wrong af, but ... my initial thoughts):

 

 

She's roasting her mother.

She = Sylvia Plath (makes sense, 'cos she compared herself to her in Hope)

 

Don't take all your secrets alone to your watery grave about

lovers and mother

 

^ she's already told us a SHITLOAD about her lovers, so

 

The secrets you keep will keep you in deep like Father and Amy and brother

And all of the people you meet on the street will reiterate lies that she uttered

 

But alas this is a real life - and it's been a real fight just to

keep my mind from committing treason.

Why you ask?

Because she told the towns people I was crazy and the lies they started to believe them

 

Amy = Chuck maybe? Or another relo. And I interpret it as being about when her parents kicked her out and sent her to boarding school, and it sounds like she blames her mum ..."the towns people" = people in her hometown?

 

"Committing treason" would be betraying your own family member, surely. So in other words, she won't tell anyone what a bitch her mum was .. although she just did with this poem, hence:

 

And now that I've gone scorched earth

 

Would standing in front of Mount Rushmore feel like the Great

American homecoming I never had?

 

Didn't get to have a normal schooling with homecoming n shit, maybe?

 

Would the magnitude of the scale of the sculpture take the place of the warm embrace I've never known.

 

= never had a good relationship with her mum

 

Makes sense to me, Boarding School must be terrible. To be sent away from your family and friends to live at a school, couldn't think of a worse nightmare.

[LanaFlowers 8,752]

OK first thoughts about the new poem (and I might be wrong af, but ... my initial thoughts):

 

 

She's roasting her mother.

She = Sylvia Plath (makes sense, 'cos she compared herself to her in Hope)

 

Don't take all your secrets alone to your watery grave about

lovers and mother

 

^ she's already told us a SHITLOAD about her lovers, so

 

The secrets you keep will keep you in deep like Father and Amy and brother

And all of the people you meet on the street will reiterate lies that she uttered

 

But alas this is a real life - and it's been a real fight just to

keep my mind from committing treason.

Why you ask?

Because she told the towns people I was crazy and the lies they started to believe them

 

Amy = Chuck maybe? Or another relo. And I interpret it as being about when her parents kicked her out and sent her to boarding school, and it sounds like she blames her mum ..."the towns people" = people in her hometown?

 

"Committing treason" would be betraying your own family member, surely. So in other words, she won't tell anyone what a bitch her mum was .. although she just did with this poem, hence:

 

And now that I've gone scorched earth

 

Would standing in front of Mount Rushmore feel like the Great

American homecoming I never had?

 

Didn't get to have a normal schooling with homecoming n shit, maybe?

 

Would the magnitude of the scale of the sculpture take the place of the warm embrace I've never known.

 

= never had a good relationship with her mum

I love this. "My Momma" WHOMST

 

Such a great analysis, it would be very interesting if you're right

[Rorman Nockwell 56,971]

K, seeing as nobody else wants to play ... 

 

I actually think part of this poem might be alluding to a suicide attempt:

 

Don't take all your secrets alone to your watery grave

 

Leave me in peace I cry
late at night on a slow boat bound for Catalina for no reason

 

Tiny beads of sweat dot my forehead
could be mistaken for dew drops if this were photo season.

 

Maybe she had plans to throw herself off the boat? "Beads of sweat" ... wanting to kill herself but it's still scary when you're actually about to do it? Anxious? Hysterical (and sweating as a result)? 

 

I'm dark and twisted, though, so ... 

[ivy 1,693]

K, seeing as nobody else wants to play ... 

 

I actually think part of this poem might be alluding to a suicide attempt:

 

Don't take all your secrets alone to your watery grave

 

Leave me in peace I cry

late at night on a slow boat bound for Catalina for no reason

 

Tiny beads of sweat dot my forehead

could be mistaken for dew drops if this were photo season.

 

Maybe she had plans to throw herself off the boat? "Beads of sweat" ... wanting to kill herself but it's still scary when you're actually about to do it? Anxious? Hysterical (and sweating as a result)? 

 

I'm dark and twisted, though, so ... 

 

Interesting observation. The only line that would negate that thought would be "on a slow boat bound for Catalina for no reason", so I'm not sure!

[Doll Harlow 12,369]

forget the book. she should just record her voice reading the poems over a lizzy-esque homemade video of random vintage/stock footage

[Rorman Nockwell 56,971]

Interesting observation. The only line that would negate that thought would be "on a slow boat bound for Catalina for no reason", so I'm not sure!

 

I took that to mean ... no reason as in, not really having any reason to go to Catalina, and/or once she was on the boat she thought of it.

forget the book. she should just record her voice reading the poems over a lizzy-esque homemade video of random vintage/stock footage

 

Ngl I would like this more than a book.

[necessary sacrifice 8,866]

I hope the poetry book comes out in the summer so I can bring it to the beach to read. And just the thought of opening the book for the first time and smelling the pages, ah it’ll be so lovely.

[Daisy Hearted 1,727]

forget the book. she should just record her voice reading the poems over a lizzy-esque homemade video of random vintage/stock footage

UGH YAS

[Sugar Venom 9,658]

i hope she just releases it as merch or bundles it w nfr on her website cuz i really don’t want this to delay the album

[mkultraviolence 5,832]

Stay on your path Sylvia Plath

don't fall away like all the others

 

Don't take all your secrets alone to your watery grave about

lovers and mother

 

The secrets you keep will keep you in deep like Father and Amy and brother

And all of the people you meet on the street will reiterate lies that she uttered

 

Leave me in peace I cry

late at night on a slow boat bound for Catalina for no reason

 

Tiny beads of sweat dot my forehead

could be mistaken for dew drops if this were photo season.

 

But alas this is a real life - and it's been a real fight just to

keep my mind from committing treason.

Why you ask?

Because she told the towns people I was crazy and the lies they started to believe them

 

But anyway - I've moved on now

 

And now that I've gone scorched earth

I'm left wondering where to go from here.

To Sonoma where the fires have just left?

South Dakota?

 

Would standing in front of Mount Rushmore feel like the Great

American homecoming I never had?

 

Would the magnitude of the scale of the sculpture take the place of the warm embrace I've never known.

 

Or should I just be here now

In the kitchen

Bare feet on linoleum

Bored - but not unhappy

Cutting vegetables over boiling water that I will later turn

into stew

 

 

 

The watery grave reminded me immediately of poet Virginia Woolf who committed suicide by drowning herself in a river. Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf are both incredibly famous female poets and they both had severe mental illness and killed themselves. Which brings me to my next pointttt......

 

Amy of course refers to Amy Winehouse who overdosed and died. It couldn't be determined if the overdose was intentional or not. Winehouse suffered with alcohol and drug abuse so Elizabeth surely feels some connection with Amy which is confirmed by the tattoo she has of her name. So we've got some type of suicide theme going on here maybe...

 

It feels to me that she is talking about going off to boarding school and what was happening leading up to it. She lived in a suburban town and her being drunk and promiscuous in her early teens would get the residents talking. Her mother may have come up with lies about why Elizabeth was acting like that and, to spare herself from looking bad, told real, exaggerated or false stories about Elizabeth. It would hurt if your mother tells lies about you to everyone in town, but it would hurt just as much if her mother was telling people real things that happened that Elizabeth was very ashamed of and didn't want anyone to know. Her mother could play a part in how her addiction developed. The townspeople started to believe her mother's lies that Elizabeth was crazy and she is upset with her mother still after all these years.

 

The boat to Catalina seems like her wanting to take a vacation. She has been in the public eye for several years now and she wants to get away from it all but knows she can't. She is trapped in paradise.

 

The Great American Homecoming is my favorite part of this. It's clear that the 'american dream' is something that deeply affected Lana's life in some way and it has been clear for a decade. The american dream of going through terrible hardships and then breaking out of it and becoming successful, wealthy, happy, etc. was something she has wanted all her life. When she went to boarding school she was going through a hard time and getting clean would be her success. Homecoming is used as in her going back to her town after boarding school. She wanted family and other community members to praise her for how strong she is and talk about how much they missed her and give her warm embraces, but when she came back that didn't happen. People might've made more jabs at her previous bad behavior and she just felt like she couldn't shake off this mistake and she wants to leave to where nobody knows her name. Again, this could be the wanting to leave and get away from it all. Her dreams of being Lake Placid's sweetheart are crushed. 

 

She's clearly lost. Fame hit her very suddenly and she was very rushed into finishing an album. Now she wonders if she should try to have a more normal life, a life that she's never known. A life that she lives on her own terms, not on the terms of a mother who makes you leave your friends behind, or a record label that rushes you into producing an album. She's scared she won't be happy with that life though and will be bored very quickly. Boredom is a major cause for why addicts start using again. They don't have that rush feeling or the high and want to feel something. Maybe she feels like she is just going through the motions and is living a boring life with no genuine happiness. 

[Rorman Nockwell 56,971]

 

Stay on your path Sylvia Plath

don't fall away like all the others

 

Don't take all your secrets alone to your watery grave about

lovers and mother

 

The secrets you keep will keep you in deep like Father and Amy and brother

And all of the people you meet on the street will reiterate lies that she uttered

 

Leave me in peace I cry

late at night on a slow boat bound for Catalina for no reason

 

Tiny beads of sweat dot my forehead

could be mistaken for dew drops if this were photo season.

 

But alas this is a real life - and it's been a real fight just to

keep my mind from committing treason.

Why you ask?

Because she told the towns people I was crazy and the lies they started to believe them

 

But anyway - I've moved on now

 

And now that I've gone scorched earth

I'm left wondering where to go from here.

To Sonoma where the fires have just left?

South Dakota?

 

Would standing in front of Mount Rushmore feel like the Great

American homecoming I never had?

 

Would the magnitude of the scale of the sculpture take the place of the warm embrace I've never known.

 

Or should I just be here now

In the kitchen

Bare feet on linoleum

Bored - but not unhappy

Cutting vegetables over boiling water that I will later turn

into stew

 

 

 

The watery grave reminded me immediately of poet Virginia Woolf who committed suicide by drowning herself in a river. Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf are both incredibly famous female poets and they both had severe mental illness and killed themselves. Which brings me to my next pointttt......

 

Amy of course refers to Amy Winehouse who overdosed and died. It couldn't be determined if the overdose was intentional or not. Winehouse suffered with alcohol and drug abuse so Elizabeth surely feels some connection with Amy which is confirmed by the tattoo she has of her name. So we've got some type of suicide theme going on here maybe...

 

It feels to me that she is talking about going off to boarding school and what was happening leading up to it. She lived in a suburban town and her being drunk and promiscuous in her early teens would get the residents talking. Her mother may have come up with lies about why Elizabeth was acting like that and, to spare herself from looking bad, told real, exaggerated or false stories about Elizabeth. It would hurt if your mother tells lies about you to everyone in town, but it would hurt just as much if her mother was telling people real things that happened that Elizabeth was very ashamed of and didn't want anyone to know. Her mother could play a part in how her addiction developed. The townspeople started to believe her mother's lies that Elizabeth was crazy and she is upset with her mother still after all these years.

 

The boat to Catalina seems like her wanting to take a vacation. She has been in the public eye for several years now and she wants to get away from it all but knows she can't. She is trapped in paradise.

 

The Great American Homecoming is my favorite part of this. It's clear that the 'american dream' is something that deeply affected Lana's life in some way and it has been clear for a decade. The american dream of going through terrible hardships and then breaking out of it and becoming successful, wealthy, happy, etc. was something she has wanted all her life. When she went to boarding school she was going through a hard time and getting clean would be her success. Homecoming is used as in her going back to her town after boarding school. She wanted family and other community members to praise her for how strong she is and talk about how much they missed her and give her warm embraces, but when she came back that didn't happen. People might've made more jabs at her previous bad behavior and she just felt like she couldn't shake off this mistake and she wants to leave to where nobody knows her name. Again, this could be the wanting to leave and get away from it all. Her dreams of being Lake Placid's sweetheart are crushed. 

 

She's clearly lost. Fame hit her very suddenly and she was very rushed into finishing an album. Now she wonders if she should try to have a more normal life, a life that she's never known. A life that she lives on her own terms, not on the terms of a mother who makes you leave your friends behind, or a record label that rushes you into producing an album. She's scared she won't be happy with that life though and will be bored very quickly. Boredom is a major cause for why addicts start using again. They don't have that rush feeling or the high and want to feel something. Maybe she feels like she is just going through the motions and is living a boring life with no genuine happiness. 

 

 

Seems you and I had the same ideas, mostly (although you articulate far better than I do). It's definitely about her mum.

 

I thought Amy might be a code name for Chuck but it being Amy Winehouse makes far more sense.

 

I connected the "watery grave" and "boat to Catalina" statements and twisted them into her wanting to throw herself off the side of the boat, but I'm fucked up, so ...

[Serene Queen 4,786]

Seems you and I had the same ideas, mostly (although you articulate far better than I do). It's definitely about her mum.

 

I thought Amy might be a code name for Chuck but it being Amy Winehouse makes far more sense.

 

I connected the "watery grave" and "boat to Catalina" statements and twisted them into her wanting to throw herself off the side of the boat, but I'm fucked up, so ...

I interpret it that way as well. Obviously “watery grave”, and I’m sure the “boat to Catalina” is a reference to Natalie Wood’s death!

[Coney Island King 26,125]

If she wants anyone to give a fuck about this she should put it in the NFR box set

[Roll With me 5,667]

I think she might put some bundles today with the book (I always thought she didn't release the album before because she was waiting for the book so that better be the reason)