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.
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 ...
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."...
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