A collection of poems celebrating the joy and anguish of baseball, basketball, football, ice hockey, soccer, skating, swimming, and running races.

Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion is a collection of found poems composed of the words of professional athletes. The content of post-game interviews and sports chatter is so often meaningless, if not insufferable, and yet there are athletes like Metta World Peace who transcend lame clichés and rote patter, who use language in surprising ways, who can be funny and shocking and insightful and alarmingly sincere — pure poetry. Muhammad Ali offered dazzling displays of lexical wizardry, and Allen Iverson’s infamous “practice” rant shifted the post-game press conference from the banal to the absurd. This book is a celebration of these rare and exceptional moments. Various poetic forms and line-breaks highlight — or, in the words of Deion Sanders, “deem to set a candor on” — the sophisticated, sublime, and surprising performances of language made by professional athletes.

“[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.

A collection of poems by American authors about sports.

Poetry in Motion is an inspirational, insightful and in-depth collection of short poems that will be enjoyed by everyone, including: athletes, coaches and fans. The book offers a unique and creative look into the world of sports. The reader will get a glimpse into the preparation and mechanics of athletes and competition.

YOU JUST WAIT: A Poetry Friday Power Book features twelve PowerPacks that use creative activities to get tweens and teens (Grades 6-12) thinking, drawing, reading, and writing. Here's a story-in-poems about Paz, an Asian-Latina soccer star; Lucesita, her feisty movie-loving cousin; and Joe, an older brother with dreams of the NBA. Resources for readers (as well as teachers and book club leaders) include recommended book lists and websites, writing checklists, talking points and performance tips, and places to publish their own poetry. (An NCTE Poetry Notable)

Reference guide to poetry anthologies with descriptions and evaluations of each anthology.

This versatile volume combines examples of poetry from historical and contemporary masters with high school writing. Each chapter contains poems for reading aloud, poems for discussion, models for writing exercises, samples of student poems, and a bibliography for extended reading. Many teachers use Reading and Writing Poetry with Teenagers across disciplines. Writing exercises include: Animals as Symbols Family Portraits in Words Of War and Peace Writing Song Lyrics as an Expression of Social Protest