As part of Stockton University’s Visiting Writers Program, Murphy Writing of Stockton hosted a live poetry reading featuring one of New Jersey’s very own poets, Gregory Pardlo. Mr. Pardlo visited the campus on Monday, October 10, and read a series of poems from his latest poetry collection, titled Digest.
Mr. Pardlo’s poems spanned a variety of topics, from childhood to parenthood to everything in between. Pardlo read poems about his family – poems about his parents, his aunt, his daughters – about his life as a kid, and about his newfound life as a parent. His poem’s worked in a variety of references both from history and popular culture, from Freud and Nietzsche to Prince and Arthur Ashe.
After reading about a dozen poems from his book, Mr. Pardlo opened up the event to an open discussion on poetry and writing. The discussion turned out to be just as interesting, as Mr. Pardlo was very open and charismatic while talking to the students in attendance. Questions were asked about Mr. Pardlo’s writing strategies, his family, and his first experiences writing poems. The most interesting question asked regarded what inspired him to become a writer. Mr. Pardlo responded saying that a copy of “Rolling Stone” magazine featuring Eddie Murphy on the cover was one of his first inspirations to begin writing, because he loved Eddie Murphy and wanted to become an entertainer like him.
After the question and answer session ended, the reading ended, with students told that copies of Pardlo’s book were for sale outside the theater. My friend and I left the theater and bought a copy of the book. While we paid for the book, Mr. Pardlo came out and sat next to the line, ready to talk to the students and sign copies of his book. Once I bought my copy, I went over to Mr. Pardlo and had him sign my book. We both grew up in the same area, so we discussed summer jobs at Wawa’s and Six Flags while reminiscing about the Jackson and New Egypt area.
Overall, the reading was very enjoyable, and I look forward to attending many more in the future.
– Dan Tidcombe