Heavy Bored

Andrew and Sophie answer listener questions while ranting about workshops, building confidence as a writer, what makes a poem great, how to assess your own work to completion, and more. This bonus episode is for Subscribers Only. To subscribe and get full access to Heavy Bored Content, become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/HeavyBored*LINKS* Join Patreon or Substack for FREE!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HeavyBored Substack: https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Sign up for Andrew’s Newsletter for FREE! https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Contact us: heavyboredpodcast@gmail.comLeave a 5-Star Review on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heavy-bored/id1617156706Follow Us!Twitter: @heavyboredpod https://x.com/HeavyBoredPod@AndrewWittstadt https://x.com/AndrewWittstadtInstagram:@heavybored https://www.instagram.com/heavybored/TikTok:@heavyboredpodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@heavyboredpodcastYouTube:@heavybored  https://www.youtube.com/@heavybored@heavyboredclips https://www.youtube.com/@heavyboredclips*when available, we use affiliate links*

Andrew and Sophie get waterboarded by government agents as they read and discuss topics such as war crimes, why erasure is the lowest form of poetry, why Nick Flynn is underrated, creativity in contemporary poetry, line breaks, and more. *LINKS* *Buy the Books* The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands by Nick Flynn: https://amzn.to/4mfKONySome Ether by Nick Flynn: https://amzn.to/3F4Avv6Blind Huber by Nick Flynn: https://amzn.to/3GUrtkZI Will Destroy You by Nick Flynn: https://amzn.to/4diKJETAnother Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn: https://amzn.to/3YLzSxaMore Books by Nick Flynn: https://amzn.to/4jQyoKtJoin Patreon or Substack for FREE!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HeavyBored Substack: https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Sign up for Andrew’s Newsletter for FREE! https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Contact us: heavyboredpodcast@gmail.comLeave a 5-Star Review on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heavy-bored/id1617156706Follow Us!Twitter: @heavyboredpod https://x.com/HeavyBoredPod@AndrewWittstadt https://x.com/AndrewWittstadtInstagram:@heavybored https://www.instagram.com/heavybored/TikTok:@heavyboredpodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@heavyboredpodcastYouTube:@heavybored  https://www.youtube.com/@heavybored@heavyboredclips https://www.youtube.com/@heavyboredclips*when available, we use affiliate links*

Sophie and Andrew pretend to read French while discussing Baldwin’s legacy, literary vs pop fiction, mystery structure in novels, literary style, short books, Baldwin’s larger impacts on the culture and more. *LINKS* *Buy the Books*Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin: https://amzn.to/4jWK26LGo Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin: https://amzn.to/4k5ZQ75If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin: https://amzn.to/43ucU01Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin: https://amzn.to/4jWztAkJames Baldwin: A Biography by David Leeming: https://amzn.to/3S1gbh4More Books by James Baldwin: https://amzn.to/43loY2xJoin Patreon or Substack for FREE!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HeavyBored Substack: https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Sign up for Andrew’s Newsletter for FREE! https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Contact us: heavyboredpodcast@gmail.comLeave a 5-Star Review on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heavy-bored/id1617156706Follow Us!Twitter: @heavyboredpod https://x.com/HeavyBoredPod@AndrewWittstadt https://x.com/AndrewWittstadtInstagram:@heavybored https://www.instagram.com/heavybored/TikTok:@heavyboredpodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@heavyboredpodcastYouTube:@heavybored  https://www.youtube.com/@heavybored@heavyboredclips https://www.youtube.com/@heavyboredclips*when available, we use affiliate links*

Andrew rants about the lack of structure in contemporary poetry, while Sophie imagines herself as a Tree in a forest. Topics include the power of repetition in poetry, what makes a poem good or bad?, the lack of discipline and scholarship in the field, why no major magazine will publish a negative poetry review, and more. *LINKS* *Buy the Books*The Trees, The Trees by Heather Christle: https://amzn.to/3GWqmB0The Crying Book by Heather Christle: https://amzn.to/4iQSnXWMore Books by Heather Christle:https://amzn.to/3GM0KXzJoin Patreon or Substack to get FULL access to Heavy Bored!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HeavyBored Substack: https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Sign up for Andrew’s Newsletter for FREE! https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Contact us: heavyboredpodcast@gmail.comLeave a 5-Star Review on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heavy-bored/id1617156706Follow Us!Twitter: @heavyboredpod https://x.com/HeavyBoredPod@AndrewWittstadt https://x.com/AndrewWittstadtInstagram:@heavybored https://www.instagram.com/heavybored/TikTok:@heavyboredpodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@heavyboredpodcastYouTube:@heavybored  https://www.youtube.com/@heavybored@heavyboredclips https://www.youtube.com/@heavyboredclips*when available, we use affiliate links*

Sophie becomes a big fat whale while Andrew struggles to remember any character in the novel he just read. Topics include the power of cultural touchstones, canonizing books and authors, why Moby Dick became such a highly praised classic, Harold Bloom's thoughts on the subject, and more. *LINKS* *Buy the Books*Moby Dick by Herman Melville (Wordsworth edition): https://amzn.to/3YDdmGKMoby Dick by Herman Melville (Penguin edition): https://amzn.to/43mxIXeBilly Budd, Bartleby, and Other Stories by Herman Melville: https://amzn.to/42NpO9dMore Books by Herman Melville: https://amzn.to/451CdYxHarold Bloom’s Lecture on Moby Dick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFt59_E_g5sJoin Patreon or Substack to get FULL access to Heavy Bored!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HeavyBored Substack: https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Sign up for Andrew’s Newsletter for FREE! https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Contact us: heavyboredpodcast@gmail.comLeave a 5-Star Review on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heavy-bored/id1617156706Follow Us!Twitter: @heavyboredpod https://x.com/HeavyBoredPod@AndrewWittstadt https://x.com/AndrewWittstadtInstagram:@heavybored https://www.instagram.com/heavybored/TikTok:@heavyboredpodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@heavyboredpodcastYouTube:@heavybored  https://www.youtube.com/@heavybored@heavyboredclips https://www.youtube.com/@heavyboredclips*when available, we use affiliate links*

**Get a taste of what’s behind the paywall with this *UNLOCKED* episode of Heavy Bored #10 Ben Lerner’s The Hatred of Poetry**A long and winding breakdown of Lerner’s personal essay and reflection on the craft of poetry. Strap in for this one, as we go over every bit of space in this essay and tell you why it’s wrong. *LINKS**Buy the Books* The Hatred of Poetry by Ben Lerner: https://amzn.to/3GFWLvTThe Topeka School by Ben Lerner: https://amzn.to/3GWUhZSLeaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner: https://amzn.to/3F81p5410:04 by Ben Lerner: https://amzn.to/4dbec3qMore Books by Ben Lerner: https://amzn.to/4k8SeQU“Lerner and His Firefly” by Mark Halliday: https://pleiadesmag.com/sneak-preview-mark-halliday-on-ben-lerners-the-hatred-of-poetry/Join Patreon or Substack to get FULL access to Heavy Bored!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HeavyBored Substack: https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Sign up for Andrew’s Newsletter for FREE! https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Contact us: heavyboredpodcast@gmail.comLeave a 5-Star Review on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heavy-bored/id1617156706Follow Us!Twitter: @heavyboredpod https://x.com/HeavyBoredPod@AndrewWittstadt https://x.com/AndrewWittstadtInstagram:@heavybored https://www.instagram.com/heavybored/TikTok:@heavyboredpodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@heavyboredpodcastYouTube:@heavybored  https://www.youtube.com/@heavybored@heavyboredclips https://www.youtube.com/@heavyboredclips*when available, we use affiliate links*

Andrew gives Sophie Covid through Skype while they discuss lyric poetry and all of its glory. Sophie helps Andrew learn how to read big words he can’t pronounce. And both cough loudly into the microphone every few minutes as an artistic choice. Topics include what’s the point of lyric poetry? the problem with academic writing, why no one reads poems, the futility of loving poetry, and more. *LINKS* *Buy the Books*Theory of the Lyric by Jonathan Culler: https://amzn.to/3SqrkrLLiterary Theory: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan Culler: https://amzn.to/4jF3PqYMore Books by Jonathan Culler: https://amzn.to/3GMq2ozJoin Patreon or Substack to get FULL access to Heavy Bored!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HeavyBored Substack: https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Sign up for Andrew’s Newsletter for FREE! https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Contact us: heavyboredpodcast@gmail.comLeave a 5-Star Review on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heavy-bored/id1617156706Follow Us!Twitter: @heavyboredpod https://x.com/HeavyBoredPod@AndrewWittstadt https://x.com/AndrewWittstadtInstagram:@heavybored https://www.instagram.com/heavybored/TikTok:@heavyboredpodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@heavyboredpodcastYouTube:@heavybored  https://www.youtube.com/@heavybored@heavyboredclips https://www.youtube.com/@heavyboredclips*when available, we use affiliate links*

The final part of the Twilight Saga has Sophie becoming pro child brides while Andrew mansplains vampire pregnancy. Both become pro-life and consider converting to the Mormon faith. All while speculating about vampire erections–size, girth, temperature, texture. Topics include Book vs Movie, the structure of romance, bad endings, vampire sex, CGI babies, and more. *LINKS* *Buy the Books* Twilight by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/4d4QXrDNew Moon by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/44XkW2MEclipse by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/4m4vPpCBreaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/3EYLhmrMore Books by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/436hCj8Join Patreon or Substack to get FULL access to Heavy Bored!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HeavyBored Substack: https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Sign up for Andrew’s Newsletter for FREE! https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Contact us: heavyboredpodcast@gmail.comLeave a 5-Star Review on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heavy-bored/id1617156706Follow Us!Twitter: @heavyboredpod https://x.com/HeavyBoredPod@AndrewWittstadt https://x.com/AndrewWittstadtInstagram:@heavybored https://www.instagram.com/heavybored/TikTok:@heavyboredpodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@heavyboredpodcastYouTube:@heavybored  https://www.youtube.com/@heavybored@heavyboredclips https://www.youtube.com/@heavyboredclips*when available, we use affiliate links*

Part 3 of the continuing Twilight Saga kicks off with Andrew wanting it to be over because he’s a man, while Sophie is seduced by some hot, wet talking. Both become sympathetic to rigorous Mormon-style abstinence-only sex education while reading about sexual assault from werewolves and vampires. Topics include emo culture, high school, men vs women, why scholarship is in the toilet, and more.*LINKS* *Buy the Books* Twilight by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/4d4QXrDNew Moon by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/44XkW2MEclipse by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/4m4vPpCBreaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/3EYLhmrMore Books by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/436hCj8Join Patreon or Substack to get FULL access to Heavy Bored!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HeavyBored Substack: https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Sign up for Andrew’s Newsletter for FREE! https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Contact us: heavyboredpodcast@gmail.comLeave a 5-Star Review on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heavy-bored/id1617156706Follow Us!Twitter: @heavyboredpod https://x.com/HeavyBoredPod@AndrewWittstadt https://x.com/AndrewWittstadtInstagram:@heavybored https://www.instagram.com/heavybored/TikTok:@heavyboredpodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@heavyboredpodcastYouTube:@heavybored  https://www.youtube.com/@heavybored@heavyboredclips https://www.youtube.com/@heavyboredclips*when available, we use affiliate links*

Andrew and Sophie get a bad case of Twilight Fever while being nostalgic for the emo era in Part 2 of the continuing Twilight Saga. Sophie gets in touch with her Mormon side while Andrew becomes homoerotically fixated on Taylor Lautner’s physique. Topics include the emo era, performative self-harm, Romeo and Juliet, the problems with film adaptations, Pauline Kael’s theories on “Trash Art” and why they’re correct, and more.*LINKS* *Buy the Books* Twilight by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/4d4QXrDNew Moon by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/44XkW2MEclipse by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/4m4vPpCBreaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/3EYLhmrMore Books by Stephenie Meyer: https://amzn.to/436hCj8Join Patreon or Substack to get FULL access to Heavy Bored!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HeavyBored Substack: https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Sign up for Andrew’s Newsletter for FREE! https://andrewwittstadt.substack.com/Contact us: heavyboredpodcast@gmail.comLeave a 5-Star Review on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heavy-bored/id1617156706Follow Us!Twitter: @heavyboredpod https://x.com/HeavyBoredPod@AndrewWittstadt https://x.com/AndrewWittstadtInstagram:@heavybored https://www.instagram.com/heavybored/TikTok:@heavyboredpodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@heavyboredpodcastYouTube:@heavybored  https://www.youtube.com/@heavybored@heavyboredclips https://www.youtube.com/@heavyboredclips*when available, we use affiliate links*