Ode to an Errant Tennis Ball — Clock Counting

AUTHOR NARRATION

Hear the poem.

Read by the author in the original English.

Ode to an Errant Tennis BallEnglish narration

THE PLACE BEHIND THE POEM

Room 408 and the terrace below

This aerial view shows the apartment complex where I lived when I spotted the tennis ball this poem is about.

I lived on the fourth floor of the building nearest the red-brick Giant supermarket—the small highlighted window area marks the apartment’s approximate location near the building’s inner curve. The elevated landscaped strip between the apartment building and the supermarket is the terrace where I spotted the tennis ball that inspired the poem.

Aerial view of the apartment complex, the Giant supermarket, and the landscaped terrace between the two buildings. — 01
**The window and the terrace**
Hover over the image—or focus it with the keyboard—to isolate the apartment’s approximate location and the terrace where the ball appeared.

01
**The window and the terrace**
Hover over the image—or focus it with the keyboard—to isolate the apartment’s approximate location and the terrace where the ball appeared.

THE LOST AND ABANDONED BALLS PROJECT

Portraits of the Errant

In search of supplemental material for Ode to an Errant Tennis Ball, I came across a project by a man who felt a certain documented dignity was owed to all errant tennis balls. Alan S. Hopkins created Lost and Abandoned Balls, a photographic project in which he documented each stray ball where he found it before collecting it.

A FEW FINDS FROM THE ARCHIVEALAN S. HOPKINS · 2005—

A stray tennis ball on the asphalt, with a white building and parked car beyond it. — 8th Avenue · Alan S. Hopkins

Tap the racket to discover another stray ball.

Find another ball

A stray tennis ball on the asphalt, with a white building and parked car beyond it.

READER DISCUSSION

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