Aaron Smith and James Allen Hall
242 episodes listed below
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James Allen Hall and Aaron Smith talk about their favorite poems and poets, interview amazing writers, laugh a lot, gossip, and get real about life and art.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Breaking Form makes close reading social, funny and candid, pairing serious attention to poems with literary games, guest conversations and queer life.
Breaking Form turns poetry criticism into a lively exchange between James Allen Hall and Aaron Smith. Close reading shares the room with guest interviews, literary games, gossip and candid conversation about queer life.
The poetry shelf gets a ruthless edit, and you get permission to argue with every choice.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A lively poetry conversation that turns sharp detail and belonging into the episode's core stakes.
The episode puts Joy Priest's Horsepower in a conversation that moves between craft and lived experience. Breaking Form keeps its playful pace, then settles into close attention to a poem that matters for its syntax, detail, and force.
A gossip-heavy poetry episode that turns bad reading-room behavior into the main event.
The episode starts in familiar poetry-world irritation, then lets that irritation take over. Aaron Smith and James Allen Hall drift from Housewives talk into AWP chatter, and the mood turns sharp fast: jokes, annoyance, and a kind of amused contempt that makes the etiquette…
Poetry talk that feels loose, smart, and warmly unruly.
Breaking Form keeps its loose, conversational energy as the hosts move from a mental health check-in and cannabis banter into poems, gossip, a backstage Cher story, and an etymology detour.
A thoughtful interview about Fear Less, revision, and how poems keep imagination awake.
Tracy K. Smith appears on Breaking Form in a careful conversation that uses Fear Less to think through fear, beauty, imagination, and the decision to keep moving toward life.
Queer poetry talk that turns bullying, memory, and survival into a sharp, bruised exchange.
Breaking Form turns a queer memory conversation into something bruised, funny, and plainspoken. James Allen Hall and Aaron Smith move from middle-school cruelty and homophobic taunts into the harder work of survival, then settle into Julia Kasdorf's "Eve's Curse," where home and…
A lively poetry interview that slides from jokes into honest talk about exposure and public selfhood.
David Duchovny sits down with Aaron Smith and James Allen Hall for a conversation about About Time, and the result moves with the show’s familiar mix of literary talk, gossip, and quick pivots into squirrel sex, mayhem, murder, and a touch of Californication.
Clifton's poems get read with jokes, gossip, and real care.
Breaking Form places Lucille Clifton at the center of a conversation about poetry, queer life, art, and the stubborn work of reading poems shaped by political violence and human cruelty.
A raunchy, nimble conversation that uses one cummings line to think about what makes speech stick.
Breaking Form turns memorable lines into a small test: which ones lodge in the mind, and why do they last? James Allen Hall and Aaron Smith begin with a late-night texting game about whether contemporary poets can be told apart, then drift through Auden and cummings toward a…
Two classical-education teachers slow-read novels like Jane Eyre, chapter by chapter.
Book talk with room to wander.
Tommy has too many poetry books.
All Tops starts with a saucy misunderstanding.
Buckle up, girl.
Louise Glick gets a rowdy, affectionate reread.
Aaron and James went to Pittsburgh.
Lucille Clifton matters here.
A manly poetry manifesto gets dragged into court, and it does not look great on the stand.
Rimbo begins as fake celebrity bait.
The episode starts as a game.
Memorable lines run the show.
Happy nude year, and nobody can count.
The game is gloriously shameless.
Victorian slang gets messy fast.
Joy Priest enters bright, and the hosts know it.
AWP comes home messy.
Body comedy barges into the poetry party.
Broken form, yep.
Two poets discuss and read poems, sharing personal reflections and literary insights.
Breaking Form’s “OnlyForms” episode centers on James Allen Hall and Aaron Smith explaining fixed poetic forms, from the seven-line rondelay to the ghazal/hustle, the triolet, the golden shovel, and the duplex.
Tracy K.
Bullying sets the room on fire.
Award season gets loud fast.
Ekphrasis, but messy on purpose.
David Duchovny shows up with About Time.
Hosts James Allen Hall and Aaron Smith introduce their poetry podcast and interview poet Richard Sykin about his new book.
Hosts Aaron Smith and James Allen Hall present an encore interview with poet Diane Seuss, discussing her work and a poem by Adrienne Rich.