“The quiet of this afternoon is strange, haunting, awful;
Hear that buzzing in the hot grass, coming from live things; and those crows' cries from somewhere;
There is a sluggish, sad brook near here, too.
The bird is gone now, so graceful, fair as it was,
And the sky has nothing but the brightness of air in it.
The clean color of air.
The sun makes it be afternoon here;…”

— Eli Siegel

Extract from the title poem Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana [Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana: Poems, Defintion Press, (1957)]

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The quiet of this afternoon is strange, haunting, awful; Hear that buzzing in the hot grass, coming from live things; …" by Eli Siegel?

Eli Siegel 19

Latvian-American poet, philosopher 1902–1978

Related quotes

“Somehow the bright beauty had gone from April afternoon and from her heart as well and the sad sweetness of remembering was as bitter as gall.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

“But they never last, the golden days. And it can be sad, the sun in the afternoon, can't it? Yes, it can be sad, the afternoon sun, sad and frightening.”

Jean Rhys book Good Morning, Midnight

Source: Good Morning, Midnight

“It was cool and quiet in here because instead of windows there were cosmoramic projections, latest of late devices to prevent the intrusion of untasteful exterior reality. Nearby the chimneys reeked a twenty-four-hour day yet the view was of clean white clouds, blue sky, yellow sun not so bright that it dazzled. Superior to the natural article, yes. Also birds flew or perched between two layers of glass on real branches in air-conditioned environment. It was not ordinary to see birds. Very yes.”

John Brunner book The Sheep Look Up

March “THE MARVELS OF MODERN CIVILIZATION”
The Sheep Look Up (1972)

“Private air is a way of living for people who come here.”

Bruno Magras (1951) French politician

Saint Barthélemy
Bruno Magras (2016) cited in: " As the Jet Set Arrives in St. Barts, Is There Trouble in Paradise? https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a8523/bruno-magras-st-barts/" in Town&Country, 28 November 2016.

“The afternoon is too tempting to be denied. It isn’t Paradise here, or even close, but the mimosa is in bloom and the air from the sea is cool and pleasant. On days like this I think of poor old Magnus Stepney’s evolving Green God, harking us all up to Eden. The Green God’s voice is faint enough that few of us hear it clearly, and that’s our tragedy, I suppose, as a species—but I hear it very distinctly just now. It asks me to step into the sunshine, and I mean to do its bidding.”

Robert Charles Wilson book Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America

Source: Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America (2009), p. 413 (closing words)

“A lot of the people who live here [Miami] are island people -- from Cuba, Haiti. People are very vibrant, and color is important living here. You're inspired every day by the sun, the sky, the landscape, the lushness. [Artist Romero Britto's] painting and artwork reflect that.”

Gloria Estefan (1957) Cuban-American singer-songwriter, actress and divorciada

www.nytimes.com (February 2, 2007)
2007, 2008

“The smog was heavy, my eyes were weeping from it, the sun was hot, the air stank, a regular hell is L. A.”

Jack Kerouac book The Dharma Bums

Source: The Dharma Bums

“Without the sun, no living being could survive. Without sun, water, air, and soil, there would be no vegetables. The vegetables are the coming-together of many conditions near and far.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

The Sun My Heart (1996)
Context: We have to remember that our body is not limited to what lies within the boundary of our skin. Our body is much more immense. We know that if our heart stops beating, the flow of our life will stop, but we do not take the time to notice the many things outside of our bodies that are equally essential for our survival. If the ozone layer around our Earth were to disappear for even an instant, we would die. If the sun were to stop shining, the flow of our life would stop. The sun is our second heart, our heart outside of our body. It gives all life on Earth the warmth necessary for existence. Plants live thanks to the sun. Their leaves absorb the sun's energy, along with carbon dioxide from the air, to produce food for the tree, the flower, the plankton. And thanks to plants, we and other animals can live. All of us—people, animals, plants, and minerals—"consume" the sun, directly and indirectly. We cannot begin to describe all the effects of the sun, that great heart outside of our body.
When we look at green vegetables, we should know that it is the sun that is green and not just the vegetables. The green color in the leaves of the vegetables is due to the presence of the sun. Without the sun, no living being could survive. Without sun, water, air, and soil, there would be no vegetables. The vegetables are the coming-together of many conditions near and far.

“Late February days; and now, at last,
Might you have thought that Winter's woe was past;
So fair the sky was and so soft the air.”

William Morris (1834–1896) author, designer, and craftsman

"February".
The Earthly Paradise (1868-70)

“When the birds sing outside
And you see the trees
Changing into green
The sun invites one
To be out in the open air.
When the sky is so blue, then,
Oh! Then I wish for so much!.”

Mike Oldfield (1953) English musician, multi-instrumentalist

Song lyrics, The Millennium Bell (1999)

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Eli Siegel 19

Related quotes

Related topics