Breaking Form: a Poetry and Culture Podcast
James Allen Hall and Aaron Smith talk about their favorite poems and poets, interview amazing writers, laugh a lot, gossip, and get real about life and art.
Episodes
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&q...
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 interview...
The queens select some very poetic bachelors and decide where they'd read them on their date.
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:
Poets and poems mentioned include:
"blessing the boats" by Lucille Clifton
Joe Wenderoth's book, Letter...
The queens descend upon Pittsburgh for a bittersweet (but dishy) tribute for Ed Ochester (1939-2023).
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:
For more about the weekend events and about Ed Ochester's impact on American poetry, read here and here and ...
The ladies pair poets together that prove complementary--or contrarian!
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:
Visit Gary Jackson's website.
In this interview, Marie Howe talks a bit about Lucille Clifton and feminist poetry.
You can listen here to Ca...
The judgy Judies play Toss or Keep to help their friend Tommy downsize his poetry library.
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:
Some of the poems/poets/people mentioned in this episode include:
The ladies get manifesto on that butt! (And mouth.)
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:
Read more about D.H. Lawrence here.
Read William Carlos Williams's "Paterson" here and "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower" here.
Jericho Brown...
The queens summon lines designed to stop readers in their tracks.
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:
Sharon Olds says that early in her poetic career, when she'd send out her poems, "[t]hey came back often with very angry notes." Rece...
The queens are joined by poetry crush Richard Siken, & talk heroes, rabbits, robots, & healing.
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 order I Do Know Some Things here. Visit Richard Siken's website here, and read work from the new b...
The hosts get familiar with the poetry of three Hof(f)man(n)s--Carlie, Michael, and Richie.
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:
Visit Carlie Hoffman on the web here. She is the author of three books, most recently One More Like This World (Four Way, 2...
How do poets write about place, and how does place shape a poet? Play along as the queens place these poems!
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/Poets mentioned in this week's show include:
Traci Brimhall, "Shelter in Place."...
Touchstones part 1 hit so good, we decided to go another round!
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.
Poems mentioned in this episode:
Tomas Transtromer: "The Name" (translated by May Swenson with Leif Sjöberg)
Cornelius Eady: "My Heart" Eady als...
The queens play poetry matchmakers and nine months later, boom, there's a poetry baby!
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.
Robyn Schiff's most recent book is Information Desk: An Epic (Penguin Poets, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2024).
The gals talk foundational poems--and they might just surprise you!
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.
Quan Barry's "The 1986 Apple Super Bowl Commercial as Intervention" refers to this iconic 1984 Apple Computer commercial aired during the Super...
The library is open--to prose the queens find indispensable for 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.
You can find John Hollander's Rhyme's Reason here.
Check out an excerpt in the NYT from Michael Schmidt Lives of the Poets.
Here's an NPR review o...
The queens put the "arch" in "archive" and rediscover some favorite poetry blasts from the 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.
Listen to a reading Scott Cohen gave with poet Tom Weatherly at St. Mark's Poetry Project in 1968. Read his ...
The queens talk literary confidantes; then we discuss the pros and pitfalls of poetic friendships.
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.
NOTES:
Read a bit more about Spencer Williams's Tranz, including from the poem "Laramie" in the book, here.
The queens talk literary confidantes; then we discuss the pros and pitfalls of poetic friendships.
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.
NOTES:
Check out Toni Morrison's 1987 eulogy for James Baldwin in the New York Times.
The Breaking Form broads recount their poetic travels abroad in this Season 3 opener.
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.
NOTES:
The David Hockney retrospective in Paris is on view until August 31. For more about his painting "Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy,&q...
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