The Trouble Ball
Poems
4 December 2012
Territory Rights — Worldwide including Canada, but excluding the British Commonwealth.
Description
“[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.
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.
Awards
Winner — Massachusetts Book Award, 2012
Also By: Martín Espada 
Floaters: Poems
Paperback, 2022
Winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Poetry
From the winner of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize come masterfully crafted narratives of protest, grief and love.
Floaters: Poems
Hardback, 2021
Winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Poetry
Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
A Library Journal Best Poetry Book of 2021
From the winner of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize come...
Floaters: Poems
E Book, 2021
Winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Poetry
From the winner of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize come masterfully crafted narratives of protest, grief and love.
A Mayan Astronomer in Hell's Kitchen: Poems
E Book, 2015
"Martín Espada ....forges a new poetic language."—Dennis Loy Johnson, Pittsburgh Tribune
Alabanza: New and Selected Poems 1982-2002
E Book, 2015
"An astonishing collection of political poetry at its finest."—The Progressive, Favorite Books of 2004
