The ladies break out the poetry crystal ball and predict the winner of the 2025 National Book Award for Poetry.

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Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.

Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.

Show Notes:

The 76th National Book Awards Ceremony will be streamed live on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, at 8:00 PM EST. You can watch the free livestream by registering on the National Book Foundation's website at nationalbook.org/awards. It will also be available on Facebook and YouTube.

The poem we read of Calvocoressi's is "Praise House: The New Economy"; check out their website: https://www.gabriellecalvocoressi.com/ Read the poem by Ross Gay that Calvocoressi references: "Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude"

We talked about Cathy Linh Che on our show "(Taylor's Version)"; read the title poem "Becoming Ghost." Visit Che's website: https://www.cathylinhche.com/

Tiana Clark maintains an online presence at https://www.tianaclark.com. Read "After the Reading" here.

We interviewed Richard Siken in episode 12 of this season (season 3). "Flevato" is from I Do Know Some Things, though it was first published in Four Way Review. Visit Siken online at https://richard-siken.com.

Read Patricia Smith's poem "70." And feel free to read more work on her website: https://www.wordwoman.ws/

The queens revisit and sing the praises of Brigit Pegeen Kelly's poem "Song."

Please Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.

Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.

Show Notes:

You can read the text of "Song" here. And read more about BPK here.

James was wrong: "Song" was published in the Autumn 1993 issue of The Southern Review. Thanks to C.Dale Young for the correction!

In ancient Greece, a tragoidia was a poem or play that was written and performed in formal language and that had an unhappy ending. The word combines tragos ("goat") and oide ("song"). A tragedy is literally a “goat song.”

The journal West Branch published "This Long Winding Line: A Poetry Retrospective" about Kelly's book Song. The collection includes essays by Amit Majmudar, David Baker, C. Dale Young, Gabrielle Bates, and Shara Lessley, who also edited the portfolio.

Watch Hiba Tahir on "Song" (including a prompt)

Read this remembrance of BPK by two friends in Plume. And read this remembrance by Ryo Yamaguchi (who was BPK's student) in Michigan Quarterly Review.

Gabrielle Bates talks about "Song" on Keep the Channel Open Podcast

Nickole Brown reads and discusses "Song" here.

Read GC Waldrep's essay on another poem from the book Song ("All Wild Animals Were Once Called Deer") here.

Emilia Phillips reads and discusses "Song" here.

You can hear Brigit Pegeen Kelly read (unfortunately, not "Song") here, at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in 2004.

The queens put the SIS in ekphrasis!

Please Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.

Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.

Show Notes:

The Greek word ekphrasis (ἔκφρασις) is derived from the Greek prefix ek- ("out") and the verb phrazein ("to speak," "to explain," or "to show"). The combination translates to "to speak out," "to speak clearly and completely," or "to show clearly."

In the movie Showgirls, Kyle MacLachlan's character, Zack Carey, corrects Nomi Malone (played by Elizabeth Berkley) when she mispronounces "Versace" as "Ver-sayce." Watch the iconic scene here.

"Faithfully" is a song by American rock band Journey, released in 1983 as the second single from their album Frontiers. Go behind the music with some more info about the song's origin story.

The receipts about Karl Lagerfeld's hateful (racist, fat phobic) ass are here.

Some of the poems and poets we mention include:

Jorie Graham, San Sepolcro

Paul Tran, Like Judith Slaying Holofernes -- and listen to Tran talk about their inspiration for this poem.

Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo"

Tommye Blount, "Karl Lagerfeld’s line of beauty"

Amy Gerstler, "Dear Boy George"

Anne Sexton, "Starry Night"

David Trinidad's "Peyton Place: A Haiku Soap Opera" (excerpt)

Walta Borawski, "Watching Sting on Saturday Night Live." Check out this review of Borawski's Collected Poems.