The Trouble Ball: Poems - Softcover

Espada, Martín

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393343561 ISBN 13: 9780393343564

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012

Synopsis

“[An] important work . . . inspiring its readers to greater human connection and to keep fighting the good fight.”―The Rumpus

In this new collection of poems, Martín Espada crosses the borderlands of epiphany and blasphemy: from a pilgrimage to the tomb of Frederick Douglass to an encounter with the swimming pool at a center of torture and execution in Chile, from the adolescent discovery of poet Omar Khayyám to the death of an "illegal" Mexican immigrant.

from "The Trouble Ball"
      On my father's island, there were hurricanes and tuberculosis, dissidents in jail
      and baseball. The loudspeakers boomed: Satchel Paige pitching for the Brujos
      of Guayama. From the Negro Leagues he brought the gifts of Baltasar the King;
      from a bench on the plaza he told the secrets of a thousand pitches: The Trouble Ball,
      The Triple Curve, The Bat Dodger, The Midnight Creeper, The Slow Gin Fizz,
      The Thoughtful Stuff. Pancho Coímbre hit rainmakers for the Leones of Ponce;
      Satchel sat the outfielders in the grass to play poker, windmilled three pitches
      to the plate, and Pancho spun around three times. He couldn't hit The Trouble Ball.

About this title

About the Author

Martín Espada is the author of fourteen collections of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Republic of Poetry and, most recently, Vivas to Those Who Have Failed. His many honors include the Ruth Lilly Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He teaches at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst.

Review

Espada 's avuncular charm his warm, earnest, sly voice finds intimacy in the lives of public figures and emblematic weight in his own stories . . . playful, earthy, both welcoming and roaring its vision of inclusion and fairness. . . . [T]he book enacts this ethos beautifully.

Espada s avuncular charm his warm, earnest, sly voice finds intimacy in the lives of public figures and emblematic weight in his own stories . . . playful, earthy, both welcoming and roaring its vision of inclusion and fairness. . . . [T]he book enacts this ethos beautifully. "

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0393343561
• ISBN 13: 9780393343564
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 68