The Magic of August: 5 Poems for Late Summer

Jenny Han once said, “Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.” In the northern hemisphere, August can be a time of extreme heat, flash thunderstorms, bountiful harvests, and clear evenings full of stars. It can also be a time of great nostalgia, nearing the end of summer and the transition back to fall. Whether August brings up sweet or bitter feelings for you, here are 5 poems exploring this special last month of summer. 

 

1. “Blackberry-Picking” by Seamus Heaney

Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and other sweet fruits tend to ripen in or around August, so many folks associate this month with berry picking. “Blackberry-Picking” by Seamus Heaney captures this memory of eating sweet blackberries (“like thickened wine”) right off the vine. He ends the poem by lamenting the ephemeral nature of the experience, how the fruit ferments and rots by summer’s end. 

“Late August, given heavy rain and sun

For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.

At first, just one, a glossy purple clot

Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.

You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet

Like thickened wine: summer’s blood was in it

Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for

Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger

Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots

Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.

Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills

We trekked and picked until the cans were full,

Until the tinkling bottom had been covered

With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned

Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered

With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard’s.

 

We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.

But when the bath was filled we found a fur,

A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.

The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush

The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.

I always felt like crying. It wasn’t fair

That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.

Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not.”

 

2. “August Morning” by Albert Garcia

Albert Garcia also incorporates fruit metaphors into his poem “August Morning,” as well as other sensory details like the warm, still air and the colorful garden outside. It captures a quiet, reflective moment in an August morning, before the hot breeze rolls in and the day’s work begins. 

“It’s ripe, the melon

by our sink. Yellow,

bee-bitten, soft, it perfumes

the house too sweetly.

At five I wake, the air

mournful in its quiet.

My wife’s eyes swim calmly

under their lids, her mouth and jaw

relaxed, different.

What is happening in the silence

of this house? Curtains

hang heavily from their rods.

Ficus leaves tremble

at my footsteps. Yet

the colors outside are perfect–

orange geranium, blue lobelia.

I wander from room to room

like a man in a museum:

wife, children, books, flowers,

melon. Such still air. Soon

the mid-morning breeze will float in

like tepid water, then hot.

How do I start this day,

I who am unsure

of how my life has happened

or how to proceed

amid this warm and steady sweetness?”

 

3. “August Sun” by Robert Duncan

One of the most prominent features of August is the hot, glaring sun, and this is perfectly captured in the poem “August Sun” by Robert Duncan. In this poem, Duncan explores the impact of the sun’s heat on both nature (“the green fields wilted down”) and himself (“of all hidden things, I sing, waiting”). If you’ve ever spent a hot summer day by the fan, longing for cooler temperatures in the evening, you’ll identify with Duncan’s desire “for evening’s grace.”

“God of the idle heat, in this glaring road

you dominate all.

And over the green fields wilted down

under your blaze, these

thirsty unruly plants grow a jungle domesticity

to protect their fruit.

Of all hidden things, I sing, waiting

for evening’s grace.”

 

4. “August Evening” by Sandor Csoori

In contrast with Albert Garcia and Robert Duncan’s poems, which explore the quiet mornings and intense days of August, Sandor Csoori’s poem takes place under the summer stars at night. In this poem, Csoori compares images of the stars to a memory of their mother sweeping crumbs off the dinner table. The nostalgia conveyed in this poem is comforting (“the sweet scent of her long-gone garden / sending me to sleep beside you tonight”), suggesting a lifelong love and connection with the narrator’s mother, despite her passing. 

“See, a hand sweeps stars

    from the August sky,

as if my mother swept off the supper crumbs from the table at home.

Her apron, slipping now and then, smells of parsley

     and chives–

The sweet scent of her long-gone garden

     sending me to sleep beside you tonight again.”

 

5. “Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout” by Gary Snyder

If you’re someone who likes hiking, camping, or other outdoor activities, you might appreciate the poem “Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout” by Gary Snyder. Set on a lookout point on a mountain, the poem opens with a description of the natural environment and expresses the clarity, solitude, and simple joys of spending time in remote places. Interested in reading more like this poem? Try these 6 nature poems to inspire your next camping trip. 

“Down valley a smoke haze

Three days heat, after five days rain   

Pitch glows on the fir-cones

Across rocks and meadows

Swarms of new flies.

 

I cannot remember things I once read   

A few friends, but they are in cities.   

Drinking cold snow-water from a tin cup   

Looking down for miles

Through high still air.”

 

Feeling inspired? Try writing your own August poem

We hope you enjoyed this collection of poems inspired by the month of August. If you’re inspired and ready to switch gears to writing poetry instead, try these 9 August Poetry Prompts to Boost Your Writing Mojo.