Episodes
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A special encore presentation of our World AIDS Day episode from last year, featuring work by writers we've lost to AIDS.
Please Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Pretty Please.....Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.
SHOW NOTES:
According to the website for World AIDS Day, more than 38 million people are currently living with HIV. And, since 1984, more than 35 million people have died of HIV or AIDS-related illnesses, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history. Donate here.
Please consider buying the books of the poets we honor! We recommend Loyalty Bookstores, a DC-area Black-owned bookshop.
We dedicated a Breaking Form Episode ("The Invisible Embrace") to Paul Monette (October 16, 1945--February 10, 1995). Monette was the author of 4 novels, 3 books of nonfiction, and 4 books of poems, including a New and Selected Poems called West of Yesterday, East of Summer (1994). He died of complications due to AIDS on February 10, 1995.
Read more about Essex Hemphill here, and "American Wedding" (the poem Aaron reads during the show) here. He published 2 chapbooks and 2 books of poetry, and edited the anthology Brother to Brother: New Writing by Black Gay Men, winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Hemphill died of complications from AIDS in 1995. Watch a short film written and performed by Hemphill called "From the Anacostia to the Potomac" here(~15 min)
Dorothy Karen "Cookie" Mueller (March 2, 1949 â November 10, 1989) was an American actress and writer who starred in many of filmmaker John Waters's early films, including Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. Mueller wrote columns and criticism for magazines and papers, and released several books as well, including a memoir, Garden of Ashes. A short film of remembrances about Mueller can be seen here. In April 2022, Semiotext(e) released Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black: Collected Stories.
Iris de la Cruz inspired the foundation Iris House. You can read more about Iris and the foundation here. De la Cruz died in 1991, leaving a 15-year legacy of fighting for health rights for women/femmes living with HIV. Hear the entire essay James reads ("Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll, and AIDSâ) in this video here. (TW for anachronistic language regarding sex work.)
David Michael Wojnarowicz (September 14, 1954 â July 22, 1992) was an American painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, songwriter/recording artist, and AIDS activist. He died in 1992, having written more than 10 books (including Close to the Knives, from which Aaron reads), exhibited his visual art all over the world, and directed at least two films.Melvin Dixon was born on May 29, 1950 and died October 26, 1992. He authored two poetry collections: Change of Territory and the posthumous Love's Instruments. His novels were Vanishin
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The queens play a round of Step Your Poetry Up before poet-voicing porn dialogue.
Please Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Pretty Please.....Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.
SHOW NOTES:
Here are links to some of the poems we mention:
Amy Lowell, "Patterns"
Robinson Jeffers, "Credo"
H.D., "Sea Rose"
Sara Teasdale, "Moonlight"
An essay on Hart Crane's "The River"
Robert Duncan, "My Mother Would Be a Falconress"
Theodore Roethke, "In a Dark Time"
Robert Creeley, "The Rain"
James Dickey, "The Sheep Child"
Galway Kinnell, "The Bear"
Stanley Kunitz, "Father and Son"
We make reference to the poet C. Dale Young--visit him online here. -
Missing episodes?
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If they wanted only to hold you, the queens could hold you prisoner in this tribute to America's most recent Nobel Laureate.
Please Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Pretty Please.....Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.
SHOW NOTES:
"Happiness" from Descending Figure
Part 9 of "Marathon" in Meadowlands
"Adult Grief" in The Triumph of Achilles
"Lost Love" in Ararat
"New World" in Ararat
"Averno" from Averno
"Winter Morning" in Triumph of Achilles
"Crossroads" in A Village Life
Here are some remembrances of GlĂŒck published in The Paris Review.
Another terrific tribute appeared in Los Angeles Review of Books, collecting memories by Paul Tran, Katie Peterson, Spencer Reese, Eliza Gonzalez, and Richie Hofmann.
Listen to GlĂŒck read "Crossroads." -
The queens get Bossy Rossy before they compare thee to a summer's eve.
Please Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Pretty Please.....Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.
SHOW NOTES:
Ross Gay is a Leo who has authored four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. In addition to his poetry, Gay has released three collections of essaysâThe Book of Delights was a New York Times bestseller; Inciting Joy; and The Book of (More) Delights. Visit Ross Gayâs website here.
Ross Mathews is a Libra born Sept. 24, 1979. Heâs appeared on numerous shows, and is currently a co-host on The Drew Barrymore Show and a judge on the panel of RuPaulâs Drag Race. He is also the author of two books: Name Drop and Man Up! And with his husband, Dr. Wellinthon Garcia-Mathews, who has a PhD in education and education policy. Visit Ross Mathewsâs website here.
The Ross Gay poems we mention in the episode are:
âSorrow Is Not My Nameâ
âOde to the Puritan in Meâ
"Poem to My Child, If Ever You Shall Be"
âThank Youâ
"Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitudeâ
"Opera Singer"
AndrĂ© Leon Talley was known for his love of bespoke black tie and colourful, couture kaftans â which he often wore together for red carpet events. Check out his top 10 fashion moments from Elle Magazine.
Drew Barrymore had a spit take with Ross Mathews (check it out here) and with Leslie Jones (check it at the 3:45 mark)
Ross Gay does love basketball. Read âHave I Even Told You Yet About the Courts Iâve Loved?â in LitHub.
You can follow Joy Behar on Instagram at @joyvbehar, and see the spat between RuPaul and Behar here.
Read Sonnet 18, âShall I Compare TheeâŠâ here or watch the fabulous Harriet Walter perform the poem here.
Watch this clip from 1969âs The Gay Deceivers to learn the difference between peonies and marigolds.Gottmikâs RuPaulâs Drag Race roast appeared in âThe Nice Girls Roastâ not one dedicated just to Ross Mathews. You can watch Gottmikâs jokes here (hit the 8:45 mark). If you do want to watch the RPDR roast of Mathews, you can
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The queens talk bisexual poetics and genius with Nicky Beer, before getting all dolled up in a game of real vs fake Dolly.
Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.
SHOW NOTES:
Visit Nicky Beerâs website: http://www.nickybeer.com
Read this conversation with Nicky Beer published in The Adroit Journal in 2022.
Read this review of Beerâs The Octopus Game in F(r)iction.
Nicky mentions the Las Culturistas podcast and you can check that out here.
Read Nickyâs fabulous 3-line poem âSawing a Lady in Halfâ
Learn more about Jim Steinmeyerâs Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear.
Read Nickâs poem âThe Demolitionistsâ
âDeath is godâs apology for sufferingâ--a line Aaron mentions in the show--is from Nickyâs poem âThe Poet Who Does Not Believe in Ghosts.â
Nicky mentions Steel Magnolias, in which Dolly Parton starred as Truvy Jones. Watch the trailer for the movie here.
Visit the HRCâs Resource Guide to Coming Out Bisexual. Also check out Bi.Orgâs coming out guide.
Learn more about June Thomasâs A Place of Our Own -
The queens have one thing to say: you better werk!
Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.
SHOW NOTES:
Click here to read Philip Levine's "What Work Is"
Read more about Philip Levine
Read Ada LĂmon's poem âHow We Are Madeâ dedicated to Levine, who was her teacher. LĂmon talks about Levine in this interview.
Read the iconic and heartbreaking James L. White poem "Making Love to Myself"
You can watch Jimmy Merrill read from his 560-page epic poem âThe Changing Light at Sandoverâ in this 12-minute clip.
Read more about the Academy of American Poets's Poem-a-Day series here.
Read Carl Phillipsâs Poem-a-Day that James loves: âThat Part in the Musicâ
And check out Poetry Daily: https://poems.com -
Snap INTO it, girlarina! The queens re-cast Cher movies with poets.
Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.
SHOW NOTES:
Read Patricia Smith's "Incendiary Art."Here's Cher's cover of âShoop Shoop (It's in His Kiss)." And here's Merry Clayton's version.
Cher starred in the movie Mask, which was released in 1985. Mask won the Academy Award for Best Makeup at the 58th ceremony, while Cher and Stoltz received Golden Globe Award nominations for their performances. Watch the scene where Rusty Dennis (Cher) barges into a high school to fight for her son. The director, when asked a question about the most difficult actor he'd worked with, replied it was Cher.
If you haven't read Mary Oliver's "The Summer Day," go here.
For more about the Future Library, read an article here.One of Jorie Graham's poems that make James cry is "At Luca Signorelli's Resurrection of the Body."
Read Marie Ponsot's poem "Language Acquisition"
You can read Jericho Brown's iconic poem "Track 5: Summertime" here. Or watch a video of him reading it here.
Here's the trailer for The Witches of Eastwick, which is also a 1984 novel by John Updike.
Read Sandra Beasley's blog here. Listen to Beasley read her poem "Peaches" (first published in Cherry Tree).
Read more about Rigoberto GonzĂĄlez here.Cher was just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Watch her induction speech and a live performance of "Believe" here.
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The queens get all Brenda on that Brenda, you Brenda?
Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
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 Brenda Coultas here. Watch Coultas read with Alice Notley here (1 hour). And read this conversation between Coultas and Stacy Szymaszek.
Watch the best of Brenda Walshâs outfits from Season 3 of Beverly Hills, 90210
You can find Brenda Hillman's website here. Hear her read âSpecies Prepare to Exist After Money." Read Jesse Nathanâs conversation with Hillman (in his âShort Conversations with Poetsâ series) here in McSweeneyâs Internet Tendency.
Follow Brenda K. Starr on Instagram @officialbrendakstarr. Watch Mariah Carey recall singing backup with Starr here. And here is Mariahâs official video for âI Still Believeâ (covering BKS).Visit Brenda Shaughnessyâs website. Hear her read from her newest book, Tanya. And read Hilton Alsâs essay, âBrenda Shaughnessyâs Ferocious Mother Poemsâ in the New Yorker here.
Watch Brenda Blethyn get humped by her dog during a This Morning television interview.
For the craziest trip, visit Brenda Walsh Ministries online at https://brendawalsh.com -
Join the Salami Sisters for this episode of The Real Housef*gs of Breaking Form.
Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.
SHOW NOTES:Soufiane Ababri is the artist we talk about whose series of artworks is Bedwork / Yes I AM
Here are are versions (one & two & three) of Dickinson's "One need not be a Chamberâto be Hauntedââ
Learn more about the etymology of the word âfaggot."
Read John Donne's âThe Fleaâ
Watch Cher on Graham Norton. -
The queens get out their big smooth (crystal) balls to predict the National Book Award shortlist in poetry. Play along! The shortlist is announced Oct. 1.
Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
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 find the National Book Awards longlists for fiction, translation, young people's literature, and poetry here.
Watch Lena Khalaf Tuffaha read her poem "Mountain, Stone" here. You can find the text of the poem here.Check out this NY Times article, "The Inscrutable Brilliance of Anne Carson." Or check out this Lannan conversation with Carson.
Here is an hour-long conversation, "Aesthetics of Return: Palestinian Poetry," with Fady Joudah and Prof. Fida Adely, moderated by Bassam Haddad.
Watch Elizabeth Willis give a reading at the Univ. of Georgia in Feb. 2024.
Watch this fabulous reading and interview with Diane Seuss, conducted by Ron Charles.
Watch Rowan Ricardo Phillips read his poem "Boys" at the Griffin Prize ceremony.
Watch Octavio Quintanilla read his poem "Exiliados"
Dorianne Laux appeared on Grace Cavalieri's fabulous The Poet and the Poem series July 2024. Watch here.
Watch m.s. RedCherries give a reading as part of the Fellows Reading of the Indigenous Nations Poets here. -
Your favorite bridesmaids are (drunk and dis)orderly in this episode about writing for special occasions.
Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.
SHOW NOTESHere's a cinematic example of an epithalamion--an e.e. Cummings poem (from In Her Shoes).
Jamesâs poem âA Monument for This Morningâ appears on p. 4 here. Itâs not supposed to be centered on the page. But oh well.Signed copies of Cherâs book The First Time is a collectible, being sold here for $600. We did find copies in the more affordable $300-range too.
Mike and the Mechanicsâs song âThe Living Yearsâ was their biggest hit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGDA0Hecw1kHere's the video for the song.The name âShaylaâ was Charlotteâs secret baby name, and her friend Laney stole it for her baby. The episode appeared in Season 1, E. 10. Watch the scene, including a great bit from Samantha, here.
You can pre-order Invisible Strings: 113 Poets Respond to the Songs of Taylor Swift, which includes work by both of us, as well as Carl Phillips, Diane Seuss, Joy Harjo, and others.
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The queens are all lubed up and waiting for you in the badlands that is Breaking Form.
If you'd like to support Breaking Form:
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.
SHOW NOTES
See Beckian Fritz Goldberg read poems here (at 1:04 mark)
Our friend Maureen Seaton died on August 26, 2023. Watch her read poems for Alaska Quarterly here. You can listen to our tribute episode to Maureen here, and our Breaking Form episodes with her here and here.
Anne and Nancy Wilson of Heart have actually reunited and will tour all over the US in 2024. Watch them sing with Kelly Clarkson here.
Here's a short interview with Ellen Bryant Voigt.
Here's a short interview and reading with Frank O'Hara.
Crisco is 113 years old. Watch this 1981 ad for it, featuring Loretta Lynn.
Throb Magazine can be found online at: https://www.throbmag.com/about
Listen to Ander Monson in this short poetic video "PREDATOR vs. Alien vs. Predator"
Here are three clips from Julianne Moore that we reference in the show:
Julianne Moore and Robert Pattinson (Maps to the Stars) talking about gloves and sex.
Maps to the Stars: bleeding on the $12,000 couch
Heather Graham and Julianne Moore doing coke together in Boogie Nights. -
Go tell it on the mountain, darlings! Join the queens for a special Breaking Form report on the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference.
If you'd like to support Breaking Form:
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.
SHOW NOTES
If you don't know about Absolutely Fabulous, which first ran from 1992-95, you're missing out. Catch Edina and Patsy's best moments here.
Mona van Duyn taught at Bread Loaf at least once--according to this poster.
Check out audio recordings of Bread Loaf readings and lectures here. I can also recommend the reading by Adrian Matejka & Paul Lisicky, both of whom read from work about celebrity icons (it was like a class on how to do that well).
The t-slur has been recognized as an offensive slur for at least 10 years, if not more, as this Advocate article about the slur indicates.
Daniel Mendelsohn's review ("A Striptease Among Pals") of Hana Yanagihara's A Little Life can be read here (sorry about the paywall!) and the whole dustup gets further press in this Guardian article.
For more information about and to apply to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences (there are other conferences in environmental writing and in translation), visit their website here. -
Join the queens for this last poetry salon, where we highlight fabulous poets we haven't discussed much on the show.
If you'd like to support Breaking Form:
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. -
Settle in for this fourth poetry salon, a show as jam-packed with radiant pleasure as a dark room in Rehoboth.
If you'd like to support Breaking Form:
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. -
This Summer Salon has zero tan-lines and a ton of fabulous poetry!
If you'd like to support Breaking Form:
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. -
Who wears short shorts? Celebrate summer with the queens as we read poets we haven't focused on before.
If you'd like to support Breaking Form:
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. -
The Breaking Form girls are taking a little August break, but we still want to brighten your summer with poems!
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Spill all the tea but spill it slant with the Breaking Form queens in this episode dedicated to the art of secrets.
If you'd like to support Breaking Form:
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.
SHOW NOTES
Cougar Town is an American television sitcom that ran for six seasons, from 2009 to 2015. See the best moment of Laurie Keller (played by Busy Phillips) here.
The music journalist Hugh McIntyre is indeed gay.Patsy Stone's full name is: Eurydice Colette Clytemnestra Dido Bathsheba Rabelais Patricia Cocteau Stone. See some of her best moments from Absolutely Fabulous here.
Read Lucille Clifton's "Lost Baby Poem"Read Nomi Stone's poems "La Ghriba (âThe Strangerâ) Tells How and Why," "Waiting for Happiness," and "Archiving What We Saw"
Read Ruth Stone's "Speculation," "Shapes," and "As Real As Life"Read Bianca Stone's "Cutting Odette's Fingernails,"Marcus Aurelius," and "The Request of the Doe"
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Aaron and James revisit an iconic poem about queer duty and erasure by Essex Hemphill.
If you'd like to support Breaking Form:
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.
Buy our books:
Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.
SHOW NOTES
Read Hemphill's biographical sketch on the Poetry Foundation.
We reference Hemphill's canonical poem, which you can read: "American Wedding" (listen to Justin Smith read the poem here).
Hemphill's Ceremonies was published by Cleis Press in 1992.
Hit the 1:04 mark on this clip to hear Hemphill read a poem as part of Tongues Untied.
Hemphill took part in a panel during the Black Nations/Queer Nations Conference in the early 90s alongside Samuel R. Delaney and Coco Fusco. His talk is about HIV, Blackness, and queerness. - Show more
