The Line Break

Summer's over, it's September, so naturally, we've invited our dear friend August J. Smith on the show! The author of VISITORS FROM THE RED STAR and ten chapbooks, as well as the mind behind the band Plum Wooer, August also used to live with Bob. August reads Mary Coons' poem "The Talking Family," his own poem "Viktor Kostrykin," and then the lads tell him about Victor Wembanyama and forget crucial details from SPACE JAM.

Buy August's book: https://shorturl.at/TMFgE

Visit August's website: https://augustsmith.net/

Summer is coming to a close, and it's time for the dudes to celebrate one of the most important summer events in a poet's life: the Ghost City Press Micro-Chapbook Summer Series! Bob reads from "Eating Out Anne Sexton" by Elena Sichrovsky and "AI Fever" by Paddy Qiu, Chris reads from "Poems" by Tom Snarsky and "Every Path Leads To The Sea" by Erinola E. Daranijo, and then the guys debate whether Rucker League or Summer League is cooler.

Check out more from Ghost City Press, including every Summer Series micro-chap available as a pay-what-you-want download, here: https://ghostcitypress.com/

How can we continue to interrogate our writing? What new ways can we find to push ourselves as we read deeper? This month, Bob reads "A Romantic Sonnet!" by S. Yarberry, Chris reads "Dear Moses Grandy...Love, the Great Dismal Swamp," and the dudes wonder if they can grasp the concept of time zones clearly enough to watch Olympic basketball.

Summer is here, so why not read poems? This month, Bob reads "Time Is Filled with Beginners" by Diana Khoi Nguyen, Chris reads "This is the Barbecue We Had Last Night" by Han VanderHart, and then the guys recap and re-cope the NBA Finals.

on this month's episode, Bob and Chris confront narratives that feel depressingly inevitable—that war will continue to happen and fatherhood is difficult to get right—and try to see if poetry can help change those narratives. Bob reads "[...]" by Fady Joudah, Chris reads "We Were All Odysseus In Those Days," and even though the guys recorded less than a week ago, their playoff takes are already obsolete.

two McSweeney's articles we might've been referencing:

"An Interactive Guide To Ambiguous Grammar" by Vijith Assar https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/an-interactive-guide-to-ambiguous-grammar

"How To Use The Past Exonerative Tense To Uphold White Supremacy" by Devorah Blachor https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/how-to-use-the-past-exonerative-tense-to-uphold-white-supremacy

Strap on your leather armor and sharpen your curved bronze swords, Bob Curator of Calendars and Chris Wrecker of Ships are reading The Iliad! The dudes realized they had both separately decided to storm the gates of Troy (Bob shepherded by Emily Wilson's translation, Chris violently thrown around by Robert Fagles') and figured why not do an episode on it? In this episode, you'll find enthusiastic gushing about the language of epics, parsing of the way the Homeric epics are culturally absorbed, Chris confusing "Antigone" with "Aeschylus," confusion as to way Ajax was basically absent from the 2004 film Troy, and stunningly knuckle-dragging sexism from an ancient society!

Follow KC Poetry Calendar on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kcpoetrycalendar/

Read the Shipwrecked Sailor blog: https://shipwreckedsailor.substack.com/

Gather round, damas y caballeros, children of all ages, have we got a treat for you! It's the first but probably not last crossover episode between The Line Break and Of Poetry! That's right, Han VanderHart joins Bob Sykora and Chris Corlew, and the three of them read not merely other people's poetry, but reach into the depths of their notebooks to holler some of their own art-words your way. Han reads their poem "last night I was sexting and reading June Jordan," and "Bottoms" by Jenny Johnson. Bob reads his poem "Utopians In Love" and "What Kids Don't Know" by Jill McDonough. Chris reads his poem "human pastoral brick" and "Elusive Black Hole Pair" by Alina Pleskova.

After their declamations, the three dudes discuss how they decided to add podcasting to their practice of poetry. Do good things happen when you commit to discussing poetry with your friends every so often? We think so!

Han VanderHart is a queer writer and arts organizer living in Durham, North Carolina. Han is the author of the poetry collection What Pecan Light (Bull City Press, 2021) and the chapbook Hands Like Birds (Ethel Zine Press, 2019). They have poetry and essays published in The Boston Globe, Kenyon Review, The American Poetry Review, The Rumpus, AGNI and elsewhere. Han hosts Of Poetry Podcast, edits Moist Poetry Journal, and co-edits the poetry press River River Books with Amorak Huey.

Bob Sykora is the author of the chapbook I Was Talking About Love–You Are Talking About Geography (Nostrovia! 2016) and the forthcoming collection Utopians in Love (Game Over Books 2025). A graduate of the UMass Boston MFA program, he teaches at community college, edits with Garden Party Collective, co-hosts The Line Break podcast, and curates the KC Poetry Calendar.

Chris Corlew is a writer and musician living in Chicago. His work has appeared in Cotton Xenomorph, Whisk(e)y Tit, Kicking Your Ass, Cracked.com, and elsewhere. With Bob Sykora, he co-hosts The Line Break, a podcast about poetry and basketball. With Brendan Johnson, he is ½ of Lazy & Entitled, the band that writes novels. You can find more Chris on Bluesky @thecorlew, at storiesfromvine.com, or at shipwreckedsailor.substack.com.

What an episode we have for you this month! Fresh off a weekend at AWP 2024 in Kansas City, Bob and Chris have recruited their most near-them-at-the-time friends to read LIVE POEMS on the show! That's right, we have Stephen J. Furlong, Teo Shannon, Chloe N. Clark, Diannely Antigua, Matt W. Miller, Todd Osborne, Amorak Huey, and Maya Williams! Forget NBA All-Star, this is Line Break All-Star! If you stay until the end, Bob and Chris even read their own poetry for once!

It still counts as the New Year if it's January 30th! Bob and Chris limp into 2024 burdened by complicated schedules but buoyed by the power of poetry. This month, Bob reads “Community Check-In” by Sam Herschel Wein, Chris reads “John Wayne Niles … .--…--.- …/ - --- Ermias Joseph Asghedom” by Mahogany L. Browne, and then the guys talk about the surprisingly fun Los Angeles Clippers.

The end of the year is upon us! Reflection time. Having put three guests in a row to the test with this question, Bob and Chris turn the metaphorical camera to themselves and ask: who/what are the five people/things that influence you/your poetics the most? The question is catchier in the episode. Have a great holiday and we'll see you in 2024.

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