Commitments: A Revisit of Essex Hemphill

Aaron and James revisit an iconic poem about queer duty and erasure by Essex Hemphill.If you'd like to 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 NOTESRead Hemphill's biographical sketch on the Poetry Foundation.We reference Hemphill's canonical poem, which you can read: "American Wedding" (listen to Justin Smith read the poem here).Hemphill's Ceremonies was published by Cleis Press in 1992.Hit the 1:04 mark on this clip to hear Hemphill read a poem as part of Tongues Untied. Hemphill took part in a panel during the Black Nations/Queer Nations Conference in the early 90s alongside Samuel R. Delaney and Coco Fusco. His talk is about HIV, Blackness, and queerness.