Guest: Gregory Pardlo

Poet GREGORY PARDLO’S father was an air traffic controller who was fired by Ronald Reagan during the strike of 1981. That experience not only shaped the rest of his father’s life, but his own life as well. Pardlo writes about his complicated relationship with his dad in his new memoir, Air Traffic: A Memoir of Ambition and Manhood in America.  In the book, Pardlo explores his efforts to break away from his father’s legacy, his stint in the Marine Corp, his marriages, and his struggles with alcoholism. Pardlo won a Pulitzer for his 2015 collection of poetry, Digest. He teaches at Rutgers University-Camden and  joins Marty to talk about poetry, family, masculinity, race and finding his own way.