Trying to beat the heat? I suggest slipping away into one of the following 15 poems about hot summer days to get you through the next heat wave. These odes to summer, in all of its misery and grandeur, will help you put the heat to work, bringing the poets' words to life all around you.
I'm from the Southern United States, where summer is four-to-six months of Hell on Earth. We're talking 90-degree temperatures, humidity that hovers around 75 percent, and just all-around ickiness. If you live in one of the myriad places with milder, drier summers, your experience of a "hot summer's day" will be a lot less yucky than mine, but our summers still have a few things in common — barbecues, baseball, beaches, and the possibility of summer love.
The 15 poems on the list below capture the beauty and struggle of summer in all its messy vibrancy. Whether you grew up spending your summer in a bathing suit and flip flops, or you distinctly recall the taste of popsicles in the park, the summer poetry I've picked out for you should evoke a sense of deep nostalgia for simpler, sunnier times. I've only included brief snippets of verse here, but you can read each poem in full by following the link beneath the blurb.
'The Woman Who Turned Down a Date with a Cherry Farmer' by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Of course I regret it. I mean there I was under umbrellas of fruit
so red they had to be borne of Summer, and no other season.
"Baseball" by Gail Mazur
"He Visits My Town Once a Year" by Amir Khusrow
"Let Birds" by Linda Gregg
"No Name" by Emily Berry
What can I tell you? It was a summer that seemed to be
making history — their personal history — almost before
it began
"Summer Night, Riverside" by Sara Teasdale
In the wild soft summer darkness
How many and many a night we two together
"Vacation" by Rita Dove
"First Blues" by Saundra Rose Maley
"Dog Days of Summer" by Meena Alexander
In the dog days of summer as muslin curls on its own heat
And crickets cry in the black walnut tree
"in lieu of a poem, i'd like to say" by Danez Smith
apricots & brown teeth in browner mouths nashing dates & a clementine's underflesh under yellow nail
"Long Island Sound" by Emma Lazarus
I see it as I looked one afternoon
In August, — by a fresh, soft breeze o'erblown.
"Still Life with Canoe" by Idra Novey
Levinas asked if we have the right
To be the way I ask my sons
If they'd like to be trees
"Summer" by Robin Coste Lewis
Last summer, two discrete young snakes left their
skin on my small porch, two mornings in a
row.
"A Parking Lot in West Houston" by Monica Youn
"Swimming in the Presence of Lurid Opposition" by Sawako Nakayasu
Summer camp, swim class, Tokyo, a group of no more than twenty ants all donning their respective swimming caps, some with images of their favorite anime characters printed on the fabric.
