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Interview with Violet Binczewski: On Process and Inspiration
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Interviewee: Violet Binczewski
Interviewer: Lily Chesgreen
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1. Tell me about your poem, “Toy Store,” that is in issue three of The Hampton Review.
“Toy Store” is a poem that I actually got the inspiration for on New Year’s Eve in 2024. My friends and I were reflecting on our year and we all realized that we had very similar experiences in our love lives and we all felt kind of used, like a toy that someone thought was shiny, picked up, and then put back down when they got bored. I thought that was such an interesting concept, feeling more like a toy than a person, and decided to explore that theme in a poem. “Toy Store,” was the result.
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2. What is your process for writing? Do you start with a theme or specific line in mind? Do you return to a poem multiple times before you feel that it’s finished?
It varies, but I usually get an idea or come across an interesting concept and tuck it into the back of my mind. Sometimes I get an idea for a rhyme, and I build the poem from there. Sometimes I sit down and don’t quite know how I’m feeling so I try to make sense of it in a poem. There are some poems that have been sitting in my notes app for a while because I just don’t know how to finish them, and there are others where I write it down once and don’t change a word. Overall, I usually write a poem and tweak a few things, but the skeleton of the piece never really changes. Part of why I love writing is because it is so different every time.
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3. What inspires your writing?
Everything. It can be a song, another poem, what is going on in my own life, my friends’ lives. Typically it is something that just gets loud in my head and writing is the only way to quiet it. I write about absolutely everything that happens to me. You can find inspiration in anything if you look hard enough.
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4. Who are some writers or artists that inspire you or that you always find yourself coming back to?
Sylvia Plath is one of my favorites; I think that her writing encapsulates the feelings that we don’t have names for and I always feel inspired after reading her work. I also find myself coming back to Fiona Apple, because her lyrics feel like pure poetry and are unapologetically raw. That is what I aim to achieve in my own writing.
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5. What book are you currently reading?
Beautiful Boy by David Sheff.
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6. Where else can we find your writing?
My book “The Ocean and Her Shadows” is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, as well as other book seller websites. I’ve also had a few poems published in Philadelphia Stories Junior, The America Library of Congress 2024 Collection of Poetry, and Moonstone Press. My articles I’ve written for Mount Saint Joseph Academy’s The Campanile are available on msjacampanile.org.
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The Hampton Review 