Breaking Form: a Poetry and Culture Podcast

The queens read for filth another toxic masculinist article before we play a saucy game based on a gay novel. Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. And BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE is available from Bridwell Press. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: Heather Christle's post sparked this episode's discussion and can be found here. Christle's most recent b...

"Dawns are heartbreaking," as is the queer love story of Arthur Rimbaud & Paul Verlaine. Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. And BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE is available from Bridwell Press. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: Paul Verlaine was born in 1844. Read more about him here. Verlaine was an Aries sun, Leo Moon, and Scorpio ascendant. Arthur Rimbaud wa...

James has to choose his favorite from an array of poetic Dicks. Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. And BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE is available from Bridwell Press. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: Read Richard Wilbur's "The House" from Anterooms: New Poems and Translation (2010). Watch Wilbur read his iconic poem, "Love Calls Us to the Things of This World" H...

Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. And BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE is available from Bridwell Press. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: Read the London Review of Books praising Aracelis Girmay's volume, How to Carry Water: Selected Poems by Lucille Clifton. Watch Girmay read Clifton's poem "praise song." Learn more about Lucille Clifton here, he...

Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. And BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE is available from Bridwell Press. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. NOTES: Gwendolyn Brooks published "The Bean Eaters" in Poetry Magazine in 1959. Check out the video of this interview with Gwendolyn Brooks. Here is Sylvia Plath's "Aftermath." Listen to this October 1962 interview with Plath by Peter...

Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. And BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE is available from Bridwell Press. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. NOTES: Read "Hap" by Thomas Hardy. And watch a here's a video enactment/reading of "Hap" by Thomas Hardy. And watch a reading/enactment of the poem here. Read a terrific essay about Hardy's poem published by the Thomas Hardy Society h...

Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: We read poems by Amy Lowell and Jubi Arriola-Headley Check out Jubi Arriola-Headley's website here, and an obituary here. Learn more about Amy Lowell here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/amy-lowell

Happy New Year! Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: We read poems by Giada Scodellaro and Natalie Louise Tombasco. Check out Giada Scodellaro's website here: https://giadascodellaro.com/ Check out Natalie Louise Tombasco's website: https://natalielouisetombasco.com/

Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: We read poems by Kelli Russell Agodon and Afaa Michael Weaver. Learn more about Afaa Michael Weaver here: https://www.theshipmanagency.com/afaa-michael-weaver Check out Kelli Russell Agodon's website: https://www.agodon.com/index.html

Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: We read poems by Jonterri Gadson & Patrica Traxler Check out Jonterri Gadson's website: https://www.jonterrigadson.com/ You can read more about Patricia Traxler on this Wikipedia page.

Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: We read poems by Mary Helen Callier & Virginia Chase Sutton Check out Mary Helen Callier's website: https://maryhelencallier.com/ Check out Virginia Chase Sutton's website: https://www.virginiachasesutton.com/

Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: We read poems by David Hernandez and Dorian Elizabeth Knapp. Check out Dorian Elizabeth Knapp's website: https://dorianelizabethknapp.com/ Check out David Hernandez's website: http://www.davidahernandez.com/

Nerd tops, dom tops, soft tops: the queens go gaga over a discussion of their top poems by favorite poets. Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. SHOW NOTES: Poems and poets discussed in this episode include: Sharon Olds: "The Race"; "Topography"; "First" Louise Glück: "Widows"; "Celestial Music"; "The Mirror" (text); "The Mir...

Let's get trioleted, girls! The queens delve into some fun poetic forms. Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Watch TLC's music video for "No Scrubs" Discover more about Jehanne Dubrow's The Arranged Marriage, about which Claudia Rankine writes,"The poet here is positioned to observe, to picture, and to record in order to communic...

Tracy K. Smith joins for the Breaking Form Interview to discuss her new book of prose about poetry, Fear Less. Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: See Tracy K. Smith read from Life on Mars at the Kelly Writers' House . Here's a reminiscence of Lucie Brock-Broido by her student, Stephanie Burt. Read more Brock-Broido-...

Sometimes poetry is a shield. Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: Poems and poets mentioned in this episode include: Galway Kinnell, "Prayer" A. Van Jordan, "Details Torn from MacNolia’s Diary." Read a consideration of the book on Poetry Daily here. Jaime Gil de Biedma, "Contra Jaime Gil de Biedma" and the tra...

The ladies break out the poetry crystal ball and predict the winner of the 2025 National Book Award for Poetry. Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: The 76th National Book Awards Ceremony will be streamed live on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, at 8:00 PM EST. You can watch the free livestream by registering on the National Bo...

The queens revisit and sing the praises of Brigit Pegeen Kelly's poem "Song." Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: You can read the text of "Song" here. And read more about BPK here. James was wrong: "Song" was published in the Autumn 1993 issue of The Southern Review. Thanks to C.Dale Young for the correction! In ...

The queens put the SIS in ekphrasis! Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Show Notes: The Greek word ekphrasis (ἔκφρασις) is derived from the Greek prefix ek- ("out") and the verb phrazein ("to speak," "to explain," or "to show"). The combination translates to "to speak out," "to speak clearly and completely," or "to show clearly." ...

The queens talk with David Duchovny about poetry, Lacanian psychotherapy, love, the future perfect, and the lost past. Please Support Breaking Form! Review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. SHOW NOTES: David Duchovny's new book, About Time, is just out from Akashic Books. David was interviewed about the book on PBS--watch it here. You can catch some of David...