If you seek to blend your literary forms into a single dish, then Crônicas might appeal to your tastes. This remarkably adaptable form mixes personal narratives with short stories, the fictional with the factual, the social with the cultural, and, on some days, simply tosses out all the rules.
There’s a rich tradition of Crônicas in Portuguese literature, particularly in Brazil, where they have long appeared in newspapers—offering a flavor of city life, a brief opinion, a telling anecdote, or something very serious that might not be very true.
Although this form comes from the 19th Century, it seems just right for contemporary tastes and contemporary mediums. For now, I am exploring, learning, and experimenting. Here is issue two of this new series.
On a sunny afternoon more than a decade but less than a century ago, I waited for a bus. There was a crisp blue sky, I believe, and a breeze from a nearby beach, the sensation of ocean salt on my skin. I stood alone until a second passenger approached, a mix of curiosity and caution on her face.
There’s a look, an unmistakable stare, to the person who gingerly approaches a bus stop—long before they arrive, you’ve determined where they’re headed based on the signature of their walk. This gradual, pensive guise is akin to the look of a person who approaches an airport gate. It is uncertain, questioning, a visible expression of the desire to avoid a mistake.
I imagine that the feeling is similar to what a child feels when they approach a classroom in a new school, checking and rechecking the correct room number before opening the door. The potential for mistake—for stepping inside the wrong class—is too much to chance. For some people, this appears to be a lifelong worry, one that doesn’t dissipate with age. How many times can you observe travelers checking and rechecking their tickets at an airport boarding gate?
“Do you know when the bus comes?”
Of course I didn’t know the answer to that question. Even if I did know, moreover, it would have been useless information, judging by the accuracy of most bus schedules, which are best considered as suggestions or aspirations. A bus schedule offers you an optimistic view of what a city believes is possible on the sunniest of days. I regard bus schedules to be dreams rather than prophecies.
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