Breaking Form: a Poetry and Culture Podcast

The queens love to love you--but it didn't always start out like that. Stick around for our game: "Pulitzer Prize Winning Titles from an Alternate Universe."Please 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.If you have library access, Ena Jung's 2015 article "The Breath of Emily Dickinson's Dashes" is worth the time.Watch Bill Murray read two of the more obscure Wallace Stevens poems here. Watch Jonathan Pryce read Wordsworth's "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge"Watch James Wright read some of his iconic poems, including "A Blessing" (at 33:15--he calls the poem "a description") here.John Ashbery's Flow Chart is a book-length poem comprising 4,794 lines, divided into six numbered chapters, each of which is further divided into sections or verse-paragraphs, varying in number from seven to 42. The sections vary in length from one or two lines, to seven pages. It includes at least one double-sestina (and one of them references oral sex between men).Hear Linda Gregg read and be interviewed in 1986 (~25 mins).Here's a quick book-trailer of C. Dale Young's The Halo, including a reading of one of the poems by Young.Listen to a few minutes of Archibald Macleish's Conquistador here.We can recommend Peter Maber's 2008 article about John Berryman's Dream Songs, "'So-called black': Reassessing John Berryman’s Blackface Minstrelsy" as a good starting place to think about the racism in that book.Jazz Age poet, translator, and Poetry editor George Dillon was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1906.At 24, Audrey Wurdemann is the youngest person to win the poetry Pulitzer (for Bright Ambush). Read a few poems here.Read Robert P. Tristram Coffin's poem "Messages"Here's Mark Strand reading "Sleeping With One Eye Open"We reference  Stevie Nicks (a Gemini) singing her iconic song "Landslide"Winner of the 1973 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, Robert Lowell’s The Dolphin controversially  included letters from Elizabeth Hardwick (Lowell's former wife). The letters were sent to him after he left her for the English socialite and writer Caroline Blackwood. He was warned by many, among them Elizabeth Bishop, that “art just isn’t worth that much.”

The queens remake the endings of iconic poems, then play a round of "Gay or Homophobic?"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.Read William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." Or hear it read by Dame Helen Mirren here.  Read Emily Dickinson's Poem 479 ("Because I could not stop for death"). James makes a reference to Linda Gregg's iconic "The Poet Goes About Her Business." Hear Creeley read "I Know a Man" here and read the text of the poem here. Here's the text of Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay." Watch Ponyboy in The Outsiders recite the poem here. Stay golden, Ponyboy.In the episode, James recites the last line of Robert Pinksy's "Shirt."We love this interview where Jericho Brown talks about line breaks (starting at the 7-minute mark).

Aaron spills the tea about recording a spoken word album, then the queens get on all fours for some  Poet Sex Positions. Woof woof, darlings!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. You can find Aaron's Outside the Lines album here on iTunes. You can listen here to Aaron Smith's "Outside the Lines," the title poem of his spoken word album.The Partridge Family is an American musical sitcom created by Bernard Slade, which aired September 25, 1970, to August 24, 1974, on ABC. Watch the pilot episode here. Its stars included Shirley Jones, David Cassidy, Susan Day, and Danny Bonaduce. The family was loosely based on the real-life musical family the Cowsills, a popular band in the late 1960s and early 1970s.The verse sung by Aaron and Belinda which proceeds Aaron's poem "Pray the Gay Away" – "at the cross, at the cross" is from the hymn "Alas, and did my Savior bleed." "Pray the Gay Away" appears in Aaron's most recent book, Stop Lying, which you can purchase at the link above. Aaron's poem "After All These Years You Know They Were Wrong About the Sadness of Men Who Love Men" can be read online at the Poetry Society, followed by a short essay Aaron wrote about writing the poem.Sister Act 2 has a subtitle and it is:  Back in the Habit. It stars It starred Lauryn Hill in her breakout role, as well as Sheryl Lee Ralph and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Watch Lauryn Hill sing "Joyful Joyful." Watch Linda Pastan read her poem, "Why are Your Poems So Dark?" (The announcer lets us know that she won a poetry prize from Mademoiselle -- the runner up was Sylvia Plath.)

It's a queens' jubilee as we discuss  Clifton and  Glück poems with Diane Seuss, who concludes by reading a new poem!Support Breaking Form!Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Buy our books:      Diane Seuss's MODERN POETRY is available now from Graywolf Press.     Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.      James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.Louise Glück's first book is Firstborn, published in 1968 when she was 25. You can read "Here Are My Black Clothes" Recorded on March 27, 2023, here is one of Louise Glück's final recorded readings (~15 minutes).Read the text of Lucille Clifton "Study the Masters." You can see Tara Betts read that poem here.Watch an interview with Prof. Clifton  here.You can read  more about  the first crafting, and subsequent replications, of Keats's death masks here.

Get ready to unlock your box with the Breaking Form queens as they discuss Sharon Olds's icon poem, "Satan Says"Read the text of "Satan Says" here.Check out the wild facts about Valerie Bertinelli on her IMDB page!Read Sharon Olds's poem, "I Go Back to May 1937"Here's a famous "Church Chat" sketch with Dana Carvey as Enid Strict, aka the Church Lady, with guests Jim and Tammy Faye Baker (played by Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks).And, lastly, check out Aaron Smith's short essay "The Very Act of Telling" here.  

Join the gals for the queer makeover you secretly knew straight cis guy poetry needed.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 word  zhuzh  is part of Polari, an argot used in Britain since perhaps the 18th century, primarily among gay theatrical and circus performers. Given the lack of a clear origin, it is impossible to tell if the verb has priority over the noun or vice versa.Jai Rodriguez was the original Culture Vulture for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Follow him on Instagram @jairodriguez or check out his IMDB page here.Read Charles Wright's poem " Sitting at Night on the Front Porch." In 2015, Charles Wright gave an interview with the Yale News in which he said that writing is "very difficult now, because I’ve probably written all the things I could possibly have to say at least five times, in five different directions. I don’t want to do it now." He also talks about it in this interview with Image.Read the poem of Charles Simic's that we discuss in the episode: "My Shoes." You can also read the poem Aaron references: "Fork."Read W.S. Merwin's poem "Language."

In every symptom is a seed of power, ladies! Diane Seuss joins to talk Adrienne Rich and Gwendolyn Brooks.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.      Diane's MODERN POETRY is available March 5, 2024 from Graywolf Press.Read Adrienne Rich's poem about Marie Curie: "Power." You can hear Cheryl Strayed read the poem and discuss it here. Or listen to Adrienne Rich read the poem here. Read Gwendolyn Brooks's "the mother." You can hear Brooks read "the mother" here.Women in Therapy is  Harriet G. Lerner's book published by Harper and Row.We reference Plath's poem "Edge" from our recent Galentine's episode (listen here!)Watch this 1986 interview with Gwendolyn Brooks conducted by Alan Jabbour, director of the Library of Congress' American Folklore division, and E. Ethelbert Miller, poet and director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University (~30min).

The ladies reach into your back pocket to talk gay hanky codes and the poets they ASSociate with them.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.Bob Damron's Address Book was actually published in 1964 and hand-sold by Bob Damron. Read more about the Damron Guide here.Read Ginsberg's poem "A Supermarket in California"Buy Stephanie Brown's Allegory of the Supermarket  from The Ivy Bookshop (one of Baltimore's best indie bookstores!). The book was first published by U of Georgia Press (1999).Beckian Fritz Goldberg's book referenced in the show is Never Be the Horse (U Akron Press, 1999). Read a recent suite of Goldberg's poems here in Plume. Watch Goldberg give a reading here (~30 min).James references one of the first viral videos, Kelly's song "Shoes." Read more about the cultural impact of the video here.  

The ladies are joined by the Queen herself, Diane Seuss, to spread some love for Galentine's Day. Support Breaking Form!Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Buy our books:      Diane Seuss's MODERN POETRY is available March 5, 2024 from Graywolf Press.      Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.      James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.We discuss Aaron Smith's Book of Daniel , and you can check that book out here.Read Marianne Moore's "No Swan So Fine,"  first published in Poetry Magazine in October 1932. Read Moore's famous and oft-anthologized poem "Poetry" and then read Slate's article about her revisions of that poem: "Marianne Moore's 5-decade Struggle with 'Poetry'"If you haven't dipped your toe into the fabulous Marianne Moore pool yet, here's Interesting Literature's "10 of the Best Marianne Moore Poems Everyone Should Read"A great essay on Moore's difficulty was published in Lithub here. George Platt Lynes took an iconic photo of Marianne Moore in her tricorn hat and cape in 1953.  Read more about Lynes and his iconic photos of poets here. Read Sylvia Plath's poem "The Munich Mannequin" (briefly mentioned in the episode) here. And listen to Plath recite it here. Read Plath's poem "Edge" and hear Jane Gilbert recite "Edge" here (~1.5 min)Discover "59 Years of Book Covers for The Bell Jar" (a fascinating read in Lithub). 

The queens discuss some unusual, at times outlandish (or downright made-up), and unfortunate ends  some poets have met. 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. Read more about Charlotte Brontë (including some of her poems) here. Brad Gooch's biography of Keith Haring is called Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring, and like Diane Seuss's book Modern Poetry, is releasing on March 5, 2024.Here's a cartoon rendition of the totally made-up story of Aeschylus's death.Francis Bacon died after contracting a chill, which he developed after stuffing a chicken full of snow. Read some of his--Bacon's, not the chicken's--poems here.Read some Oscar Wilde poems here.To read more about Christopher Marlowe and also some of his poems, click here.Here's an entertaining and educational video about Dante Alighieri. Watch a (kinda long but totally worth it, girl) documentary about Zelda Fitzgerald (60 min). Also, read Aria Aber's poem "Zelda Fitzgerald" here. You can read some of Rupert Brooke's best poems here. Read more about Frank O'Hara's tragic death on Fire Island here. As outlined in the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, Keats, who was often in poor health, was regularly in contact with one of the deadliest diseases of his day: tuberculosis. Keats cared for his infected brother, Tom, before contracting the disease, then known as consumption, himself. As his illness took hold, Keats relocated to Italy in the hope that the climate would have a positive effect on his ailments. He was buried in Rome, where his gravestone describes him as "one whose name was writ in water." Read more here.Here's a great 10-minute talk on Elizabeth Barrett Browning.Watch Suzanne Somers's Thighmaster commercial here.