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EPISODE · Nov 10, 2025 · 45 MIN

Language of Survival

from Breaking Form: a Poetry and Culture Podcast · host Aaron Smith and James Allen Hall

Sometimes poetry is a shield.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:Poems and poets mentioned in this episode include:Galway Kinnell, "Prayer"  A. Van Jordan, "Details Torn from MacNolia’s Diary." Read a consideration of the book on Poetry Daily here.Jaime Gil de Biedma, "Contra Jaime Gil de Biedma" and the translation here. Read this LitHub article considering the life and poetry of de Biedma by Spencer Reece.Gregory Orr writes about the accident in which his brother died here. Aaron posted a photo of "Poem for My Dead Mother" on his FaceBook here. The poem was first published in the Antioch Review in Vol. 31, No. 1, Spring, 1971Ethna McKiernan, "Washing My Mother's Hair." Read an obit for the poet in The Irish Times here . Kathy Fagan's "A Vocabulary of Icons" was first published in Southwest Review Vol. 83, No. 3, 1998Julia Kasdorf's "Eve Curse" is from her book Eve's Striptease. Visit her website.Jane Kenyon, "Let Evening Come"Toi Dericotte's poem "Clitoris" was first published in Kenyon Review, Spring 1994, Vol. XVI No. 2

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Nov 10, 2025

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Sometimes poetry is a shield. 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: Poems and poets mentioned in this episode include: Galway Kinnell, "Prayer" A. Van Jordan, "Details Torn from MacNolia’s Diary." Read a consideration of the book on Poetry Daily here. Jaime Gil de Biedma, "Contra Jaime Gil de Biedma" and the tra...

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Language of Survival

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