HoCoPoLitSo's video: Mart n Espada s The Trouble Ball Poetry Moment

Martín Espada's poem, "The Trouble Ball," tells the story of his father as a boy, sitting in the stands to watch his first baseball game in America. But he's puzzled. Where are all the Black players he watched as a child in Puerto Rico? Where is stellar pitcher Satchel Paige? This poem, written by activist and poet Espada, handles the trouble ball, a trademark Paige pitch, and also the term that Espada defines as the trouble in America -- the handling of race and racism. Winner of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, and the National Book Award, Espada is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry, and a professor at the University of Amherst. Shawn Sebastian Naar reads an introduction to offer context and background on the poet and the poem.