Breaking Form: a Poetry and Culture Podcast

Get out your UV lights & swabs--the queens play a game that fuses poems, then guess the poetic DNA samples. Then we spark up a fusion of a different strain!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:Watch Jools Lebron get mindful and demure here, divaDon't soak tampons in vodka. Poems we discuss in the episode include:Philip Levine's "Bitterness"Laura Kasischke's "Champagne"Kay Ryan's "Shark's Teeth"Kenneth Koch's "One Train May Hide Another"Annie Finch's "Wild Yeasts"Dorothea Lasky's "Toast to my friend or why Friendship is the best kind of Love"Danusha Laméris's "Bonfire Opera"Marie Ponsot's "Among Women"Tina Chang's "God Country"Campbell McGrath's "Sunset, Route 90, Brewster County, Texas"Elizabeth Bishop's "The Fish"W.B. Yeats's "Leda and the Swan"Gerard Manley Hopkins's "The Windhover"Anne Sexton's "Jesus Awake" & "Wanting to Die" Langston Hughes's "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" & "I, Too"Philip Larkin's "Sad Steps" And Beyonce's "You Won't Break My Soul [Queens Remix]," in which she sampled Madonna's song "Vogue," returning it to the culture where it rightly belongs.

The queens get sassy and sissify toxic cisheteronormative gender ideas about poetry.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.The site in such desperate need of sissification (and better poets) can be found here. Or just skip to a queer critique here and/or to Esther Wang's super smart deep-dive takedown "My Brief Hero's Journey into the 'Art of Manliness,' Which Unfortunately Did Not Teach Me to Chop Wood" (on Jezebel, so you know that shit's good).Bill Waterson is the creator and writer of Calvin and Hobbes, which also includes poems over the years. Sam Elliott chews the scenery with Cher in Mask--watch a great scene here. For some terrifically sissy poems, read on:"Sissy" by Aaron Smith"Hypothesis" by Paul Tran"Sissy Aqueducts" by Brandon Menke"LISP" by sam sax

The queens discuss gay icon status with Brenda Hillman--and then launch in to a revisit of several of her poems, including her fabulous "Male Nipples."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. You can see readings by Brenda Hillman here (one poem, ~4 min, 2020), here (20min, 2012), and here (2024, poetry and conversation with Jesse Nathan).For a review and discussion of Hillman's new book, Three Talks, check out this episode of The Only Property. (~30 min).(Re)read Wallace Stevens's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"Learn more about Kathleen Fraser here. Discover more about Barbara Guest and her 9 collections of poetry here.If you'd like to know more about Kelsey Street Press's mission and history, it's a fascinating journey that you can start here.A basic introduction to gnosticism can be had here. Learn more about the Black Mountain Poets here.Read about Objectivist Poetics here.

Candle-extinguishing butts, 3am afterparties, collections of seamen (and semen)--this dishy tour of Langston Hughes's love life will leave you gagging with the gays.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:Watch Hughes recite his poem, "The Weary Blues" to jazz accompaniment on tv in 1958.You can check out troves of Hughes's poetry here, here, and here. Read Langston Hughes's poem "Café: 3AM"Listen to Hughes read "Harlem." Langston Hughes's first memoir, The Big Sea, about his seafaring travels--including upon the West Hesseltine where he said he had that fateful encounter with a sailor--can be found here.  It includes  the essay "Spectacles in Color" in which Hughes describes queer ballroom scene and Countee Cullen's wedding  to Yolanda Du Bois (with Harold Jackson, his boyfriend, serving as best man).Faith Berry's biography of Hughes is Before and Beyond Harlem. Her papers are at the Library of Congress.Read more about Arnold Ampersad's biography of Hughes:Volume 1 (which covers 1902-1940 and does have a snazzy subtitle: I, Too, Sing America).Volume 2 (which covers 1941-death and also has a snazzy subtitle: I Dream a World).Other receipts for the episode can be found in the following essays and scholarship:Hilton Als, "The Elusive Langston Hughes" (The New Yorker, 2015)Juda Bennett, "Multiple Passings and the Double Death of Langston Hughes" (Biography, vol 23.4, 2000).Link through Project Muse.Andrew Donnelly, "Langston Hughes on the DL" (College Literature, Volume 44, Number 1, Winter 2017). Link through Project Muse.Mason Stokes, "Strange Fruits: Rethinking the Gay Twenties" (Transition , 2002, No. 92). Link through JSTOR.Shane Vogel, "Closing Time: Langston Hughes and the Poetics of Harlem Nightlife," in Criticism (Vol 48.3, 2006). Link through Project Muse.Jennifer Wilson, "Queer Harlem, Queer Tashkent" (Slavic Review , FALL 2017). Link through JSTOR.Finally, visit Ann Patchett's bookstore online here: https://www.parnassusbooks.net/

Whet your appetite with half a poem from 3 fabulous poets and choose your own poetic fulfillment!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:Read Catherine Bowman's poem "1-800-Hot-Ribs."Read Catherine Barnett's poem "'Have You Ever Written a Poem About Death?' My Mother Asks."Read Catherine Pierce's poem "The Curator of the Earth Museum Speaks of People."Watch Catherine Bowman’s read her poem "Makeshift" (~1.5 mins) from Can I Finish, Please (Four Way Books, 2016). Bowman's title poem from 1-800-HOT-RIBS  which we read on the show can be found on the blog “Read Good Poetry,” which was updated through 2022.Watch Nicole Sealey read Catherine Barnett's poem "Apophasis at the All-Night Rite Aid" (1 min). You can catch Catherine reading (about 7 min) here. Click here to read another Barnett poem in APR called “Envoy” (also from Solutions for the Problem of Bodies in Space).  Visit Barnett's website here.Catherine Pierce reads four poems from Danger Days here (~20 mins) and talks craft on the Wednesday Night Sessions show. Visit Pierce's website here, and check out episodes of Mississippi Poetry Podcast (which Pierce hosts) here.

The queens go in (and out) on poetry trends for 2025, all while doing their Kegel exercises. 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:Watch Marie Howe in conversation with poet and friend of the show, Nicole Tallman (18 mins), for South Florida Poetry Journal. You can catch a reading of some poets included in Invisible Strings: 113 Poets Respond to the Songs of Taylor Swift here. Read Carol Frost's poem "Gross Clinic" from her book I Will Say Beauty (mentioned in the show).When we mention "the Sharon Olds stanza," here’s a representative of what we mean: "After Making Love in Winter" (Poetry Magazine, May 1987)A bit more about The Vivienne, a drag superstar and winner of Season 1 of Drag Race UK, can be found here. More about Ada Limon's historic appointment as Poet Laureate can be accessed here.A few Game Shows poems:Jennifer L. Knox, “The New Let’s Make a Deal” Julie Marie Wade, "From the Jeopardy! Category Spoiler Alerts"

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 – 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 AIDS”) in this video here.  (TW for anachronistic language regarding sex work.)David Michael Wojnarowicz (September 14, 1954 – 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

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. 

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 FigurePart 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 LifeHere are some remembrances of Glück 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 Glück 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 essays—The Book of Delights was a New York Times bestseller; Inciting Joy; and The Book of (More) Delights. Visit Ross Gay’s website here.Ross Mathews is a Libra born Sept. 24, 1979. He’s appeared on numerous shows, and is currently a co-host on The Drew Barrymore Show and a judge on the panel of RuPaul’s 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 Mathews’s website here.The Ross Gay poems we mention in the episode are:“Sorrow Is Not My Name” “Ode to the Puritan in Me” "Poem to My Child, If Ever You Shall Be"“Thank You”"Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude” "Opera Singer"André Leon Talley was known for his love of bespoke black tie and colourful, couture kaftans – 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 “Have I Even Told You Yet About the Courts I’ve Loved?” in LitHub.You can follow Joy Behar on Instagram at @joyvbehar, and see the spat between RuPaul and Behar here. Read Sonnet 18, “Shall I Compare Thee…” here or watch the fabulous Harriet Walter perform the poem here.Watch this clip from 1969’s The Gay Deceivers to learn the difference between peonies and marigolds.Gottmik’s RuPaul’s Drag Race roast appeared in “The Nice Girls Roast” not one dedicated just to Ross Mathews. You can watch Gottmik’s jokes here (hit the 8:45 mark). If you do want to watch the RPDR roast of Mathews, you can