“Nothing in the cryof cicadas suggests they are about to die”

“Mama used to tell us a story about a cicada sitting high in a tree. It chirps and drinks in dew, oblivious to the praying mantis behind it. The mantis arches up its front leg to stab the cicada, but it doesn't know an oriole perches behind it. The bird stretches out its neck to snap up the mantis for a midday meal, but its unaware of the boy who's come into the garden with a net. Three creatures—the cicada, the mantis and the oriole—all coveted gains without being aware of the greater and inescapable danger that was coming.”

“When you hear nothing about the body, he suggests, you stop listening to it, and feeling it; you stop experiencing it as a worthy, integrated entity.”

“Of the many forms that silence takes, the most memorable is the dry husk of the cicada.”

“Nobody was speaking. Only the cicadas continued their whine, indifferent to human tragedies.”

“Say whatever your memory suggests is true; but add nothing and exaggerate nothing.”