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