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 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 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

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 Beer’s website: http://www.nickybeer.com

Read this conversation with Nicky Beer published in The Adroit Journal in 2022.

Read this review of Beer’s The Octopus Game in F(r)iction.

Nicky mentions the Las Culturistas podcast and you can check that out here.

Read Nicky’s fabulous 3-line poem “Sawing a Lady in Half”

Learn more about Jim Steinmeyer’s Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear.

Read Nick’s poem “The Demolitionists”

“Death is god’s apology for suffering”--a line Aaron mentions in the show--is from Nicky’s poem “The Poet Who Does Not Believe in Ghosts.”

Nicky mentions Steel Magnolias, in which Dolly Parton starred as Truvy Jones. Watch the trailer for the movie here.

Visit the HRC’s Resource Guide to Coming Out Bisexual. Also check out Bi.Org’s coming out guide.

Learn more about June Thomas’s 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 Límon's poem “How We Are Made” dedicated to Levine, who was her teacher. Límon 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 “The Changing Light at Sandover” in this 12-minute clip.

Read more about the Academy of American Poets's Poem-a-Day series here.

Read Carl Phillips’s Poem-a-Day that James loves: “That Part in the Music”

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 “Shoop 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 González here.

Cher was just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Watch her induction speech and a live performance of "Believe" here.

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 Walsh’s outfits from Season 3 of Beverly Hills, 90210

You can find Brenda Hillman's website here. Hear her read “Species Prepare to Exist After Money." Read Jesse Nathan’s conversation with Hillman (in his “Short Conversations with Poets” series) here in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

Follow Brenda K. Starr on Instagram @officialbrendakstarr. Watch Mariah Carey recall singing backup with Starr here. And here is Mariah’s official video for “I Still Believe” (covering BKS).

Visit Brenda Shaughnessy’s website. Hear her read from her newest book, Tanya. And read Hilton Als’s essay, “Brenda Shaughnessy’s Ferocious Mother Poems” 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