15 Poems About Hot Summer Days To Get You Through The Next Heat Wave

Publish date: 2024-06-08

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

Sweet Cherry basket backgroundShutterstock

Of course I regret it. I mean there I was under umbrellas of fruitso red they had to be borne of Summer, and no other season.

Read the poem in full here.

"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 bemaking history—their personal history—almost beforeit began

Read the poem in full here.

"Summer Night, Riverside" by Sara Teasdale

Couple holding hands and Beautiful sunlight on the sky in background.Shutterstock

"Vacation" by Rita Dove

"First Blues" by Saundra Rose Maley

"Dog Days of Summer" by Meena Alexander

"in lieu of a poem, i'd like to say" by Danez Smith

"Long Island Sound" by Emma Lazarus

"Still Life with Canoe" by Idra Novey

Family in a canoe on the Biebrza river national park, Poland.Shutterstock

"Summer" by Robin Coste Lewis

"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.

Read the poem in full here.

Get Even More From Bustle — Sign Up For The Newsletter

From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person who’s on TikTok, even if you aren’t.

More like this

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSraOeZpOkunC8jmpsZqifmrq0ecCbpq6sXZ28tXnSrqSmnaJisaLF0marqGWXmsFuxc6uZK2goqTCqLSMrZ%2BeZZ6axbV5x56YrWWnlsOmeZBxaWpwY2mA