"Walt Whitman writes: I am he attesting sympathy. Joseph Ross
could say the same. The poems in Ache flow from a fountain of
compassion for those so often denied these sacred waters: immigrants
crossing the border at their peril, people of color murdered by
police now and half a century ago, the martyrs whose names we
know--from Trayvon Martin to Archbishop Romero--and whose names we do
not know. In one breath, the poet speaks in the voice of Nelson
Mandela, addressing the mother of lynching victim Emmett Till; in the
next breath, he speaks of his own high school student, a young Black
man spat upon by an officer of the law. In clear, concise language,
Joseph Ross praises and grieves the world around him, the music as
well as the murder. He also engages in prophecy: ‘If you leave your
country in the wrong hands, / you might return to /see it drowning in
blood, / able to spit / but not to speak.’ Yes, indeed." -
Martín Espada