Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass is the debut book by American singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey. A poetry collection featuring over thirty original poems and photography, including "13 longer poems" and several short pieces, the collection will be Del Rey's first published work and will be released by Simon & Schuster on September 24, 2020. "Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass is the title poem of the book and the first poem I wrote of many. Some of which came to me in their entirety, which I dictated and then typed out, and some that I worked laboriously picking apart each word to make the perfect poem. They are eclectic and honest and not trying to be anything other than what they are and for that reason I’m proud of them, especially because the spirit in which they were written was very authentic."
Where Lana Del Rey’s previous 2021 album Chemtrails Over the Country Club made no reference to the global pandemic in which it was partly created, Blue Banisters is steeped in it. From bringing up Black Lives Matter protests in “Text Book” to facing the loneliness of isolation during quarantine in “Black Bathing Suit,” there’s no shortage of references to the year that kept us all inside. “And if this is the end, I want a boyfriend/Someone to eat ice cream with and watch television,” she sings. When not singing about girls in summer dresses dancing with their masks off, Lana ruminates on her family. She mentions her sister Chuck in the title track and regales with tales about her parents in “Wildflower Wildfire.”