EPISODE · Sep 15, 2025 · 44 MIN
Tossing off with Tommy
from Breaking Form: a Poetry and Culture Podcast · host Aaron Smith and James Allen Hall
The judgy Judies play Toss or Keep to help their friend Tommy downsize his poetry library.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:Some of the poems/poets/people mentioned in this episode include:Robert Creeley, "I Know a Man" which you can read here and listen to Creeley read here. And here's a roundtable discussion of the poem (~11 minutes, with a recording of Creeley reading it during a visit to Harvard).The poet Ai's book, Vice. Experience a video that includes her reading her poem "The Good Shepherd" here. Matthew Dickman, All-American PoemElizabeth (betsy) Cox, I Have Told You and Told You. Read more about Cox's books with Penguin/Random House here. Loiuse Glück. "First Memory" is the last poem in Ararat. Watch this dramatic reading of the poem by Eisa Davis. Diane Gilliam Fisher, Kettle Bottom. Read more about Fisher here. Carrie Fountain, Burn Lake. Read the title poem here.Bob Hicok, Words for Empty, Words for Full. Read the poem "A Primer" mentioned in the show.James's poem "Portrait as My Mother as the Republic of Texas" appears in their first book, Now You're the Enemy (U of Arkansas, 2008). Read that poem and a short interview about it here. Watch this shady interview conducted with Paulina Porizkova about being fired by America's Next Top Model. The comic Beth Littlefield conducted very funny interviews forThe Daily Show in which her interviewer persona sent up Barbara Walters's interviews. In her interview of Dionne Warwick, she started one question this way:"In 1985, you participated in 'We Are the World,' which gathered together some of the top performers of our day, and Latoya Jackson." Watch Warwick fall out here, at the 2:30 mark.
Embed this episode
What this episode covers
The judgy Judies play Toss or Keep to help their friend Tommy downsize his poetry library. 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: Some of the poems/poets/people mentioned in this episode include: Robert Creeley, "I Know a Man" which you can read here and listen to Creeley read here. And here's a roundtable discussion of the po...
Ready to play
Tossing off with Tommy
No transcript for this episode yet
Similar Episodes
No similar episodes found.
Similar Podcasts
No similar podcasts found.