“The road ran about like a wild thing, avoiding the deep draws, crossing them where they were wide and shallow. And all along it, wherever it looped or ran, the sunflowers grew; some of them were as big as little trees, with great rough leaves and many branches which bore dozens of blossoms.”
-Willa Cather
“He saw his dignity slip away like a blanket.”
-Beryl Markham
“The beautiful, glittering name fell out of the sky like a steel-blue feather. She watched it fall, turning and twisting like a slow-falling arrow that cleaves the deep air beautifully.”
-Virginia Woolf
“Lucky’s mouth choking on his every syllable, proud, smiling so hard his lips curl up like burning paper, his sister’s fingers gripping his own.”
-T. Kira Madden
“We stood there like mesmerized criminals who had forgotten to flee the scene.”
-Miranda July
“The girl, abandoned, was dumbfounded, standing there as expressionless as a frozen fish.”
-Kobo Abe
“When the clouds part
like stupid lovers,
I close my eyes and press
myself against
the eucalyptus tree.”
-Erika Sánchez
“Late one evening, while lying on a blanket in the garage, Duchess gave birth to a litter of slick, potato-sized puppies. When it looked as though one of them had died, our mother placed the creature in a casserole dish and popped it into the oven, like the witch in ‘Hänsel and Gretel.’
‘Oh, keep your shirts on,’ she said. “It’s only set on 200. I’m not baking anyone; this is just to keep him warm.'”
-David Sedaris
“The little wooden door that has wedged shut the dark for so long opens with a sigh and lets out a breath of mold and dampness, like books that have been left out in the rain.”
-Sandra Cisneros
“I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air –
Between the Heaves of Storm -”
-Emily Dickinson
The Simile Museum 