Archive for the 'Travel (Miscellaneous)' Category

The Museum of Lago Atitlan

Monday, March 9th, 2009

I have written a companion piece for “Emeralds”. I am trying to alternate between publishing pieces here and publishing them at othermatters.org ; since I published Emeralds here, I am publishing this one at the other site. Read the beginning here, and if you are interested, go to see the rest by clicking the link […]

Crossing

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

I lay three fatted twigs along the fireplace’s grate, and stretch an Ossipee log across them. I have loosened handfuls of splinters along its face, in the hope of encouraging flames. It is a dark morning; new snow has fallen. There is precious little paper, and no real kindling. I tear strips from a brown […]

Catarina’s Garden

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

I make my way through the underbrush keeping count of the dead and the living. Over the fence, Rome streams past. Not far beyond, I was told by the priest, lies the Mediterranean Sea. Five, no six, weeks in countries with beaches, and not even a lick of swimming. I laugh at myself as I […]

Membrillo (Fugue, 3)

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

Chiapas, 1999.
The bus has been stopped for several hours before we abandon the pretense of sleep. My cheek is numb from resting against the window’s edge. Next to me, Alison pinches herself awake. Her right hand holds fast to the pressure point between the thumb and forefinger of her left hand. I know that […]

For Stanley (Fugue, 2)

Monday, February 25th, 2008

1999, Valle, Honduras
We travel backward through the night. As the truck picks up speed, we scoot away from the tailgate. Stacked along the back of the cab are bags of cement mix. I brace my feet against the side of the truck, and push my back against the pile of bags. The edge of […]

Fugue

Monday, February 18th, 2008

This piece is the first part of a series, insha’Allah, about Liberation Theology and Islam. If it is far from complete, at least it is a beginning. It describe a trip which I have not discussed before, taken in 1999, to Central America.
El Salvador, 1999.
The man is certainly dead. He lies face up across the […]

Muttrah or The Heart

Saturday, November 24th, 2007

The sunlight has taken on an aged quality, beautiful and weak. It is five in the afternoon, and I have come from the shore. There crabs with silver claws followed the disappearing tide, and a man in orange bathed himself in the sea. I sat in a wooden pagoda, studying tankers, taking pictures of dhows, […]

Blindness (Bus to Nizwa)

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007

Note: I reviewed all of my Omani stories, and found that I had missed a few important points. This is, insha’Allah, one of the last stories for the Oman collection. It describes how I went, by bus, across the mountains, to Nizwa’s edge.

All cities crumble in the same way. Whatever differences infect their centers are […]

Eldon (Stations, 2)

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

The Baghdad Restaurant has a thin line of shade beneath its green awnings. I press myself against the building, hoping to avoid heat stroke. My travel bag, on wheels, has grown a yellowy skin of dust. The Hajar mountains are blowing away, and I am pulling them with me. It is 11:00 am in Oman. […]

Shahadah (Stations, 2)

Saturday, August 11th, 2007

Part 1.
August, 2006.
The journey there will be a long one, spanning two days. As a final nod to comfort, I have purchased first class tickets for the train ride between Boston and New York. There will be, I suspect, plenty of difficulty in the hours to come. I must pass from Boston to […]

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