Category Archives: Travel Sketches

The Broken-down Bus

Posted on March 1, 2025 by slcantwell25

Mexican poet Alberto Blanco wrote a singular poem called, “The Broken-down Bus,” which is set in the winter of 1965. The narrator is riding a bus from Mexico to Los Angeles—his first journey across the border into the United States. But on the second day of the journey, at midnight, the bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere. All the people—first the teenagers, then the children and grown-ups—get off the bus. They are exhausted from the long journey, anxious to escape the wailing of a baby, impatient with the delay, and angry with the bus driver—blaming him for the mechanical breakdown. Continue reading →

Posted in Essays, From the Notebooks, Travel Sketches | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Everything Under the Sun

Posted on November 11, 2020 by slcantwell25

In March 2018, my Uncle Clair had been visiting his son, Jim, in Phoenix and was ready to return to Utah. I offered to fly down to drive back with him so he wouldn’t have to travel alone. My aunt Linda (Clair’s sister) was concerned. He was, after all, in his late eighties. I jumped at the chance to spend time with him, though I knew he was fully capable of making the trip on his own. So, you see, there was a little self interest in my offer. My father, Lee, one of Clair’s younger brothers, had passed away just a few years before. What I had missed more than anything since my father’s death was the chance to talk freely about everything under the sun. Not small talk. But vast conversation with no limits. I knew with my cousin Jim and Uncle Clair that was exactly what would happen. I was desperately hungry for such talk. Continue reading →

Posted in From the Notebooks, Travel Sketches | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment