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
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.
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.
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 he...
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://na...
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://ww...
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.virginiachasesutt...
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.co...
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"...
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 ...
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 reminisce...
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 boo...
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 P...
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.
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 ...
Popular Podcasts
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.
Listen to the latest news from the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina are here and have everyone talking. iHeartPodcasts is buzzing with content in honor of the XXV Winter Olympics We’re bringing you episodes from a variety of iHeartPodcast shows to help you keep up with the action. Follow Milan Cortina Winter Olympics so you don’t miss any coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics, and if you like what you hear, be sure to follow each Podcast in the feed for more great content from iHeartPodcasts.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.