Photo from TexasPoems on Texas’s Hot Summer of 2023 by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society August 9, 2023 Beauty, Humor, Poetry, Villanelle 38 Comments . Two Summer Villanelles . l. Lone Star Sear The burn and boil is grim for some. I’m red of neck and flushed of cheek. I’m roasting under summer’s thumb. Cicadas thrum and twang and strum Their shrill and tinny, eerie shriek. The burn and boil is grim for some. Plum-drunk hornets swirl and hum Round putrid fruit in rot’s mystique. I’m roasting under summer’s thumb. The mad dogs melt in midday sun; They pant in fits of fur-coat pique. The burn and boil is grim for some. Mosquitoes suck till I become A bloodless husk; a withered freak. I’m roasting under summer’s thumb. These sweat and swelter days are glum; This sticky cling is far from chic. The burn and boil is grim for some. I’m roasting under summer’s thumb. . ll. Lone Star Cheer Hot molten gold ignites the sky As hummingbirds zip here and there; It’s summertime. I’m cirrus-high. Soft tufts of cotton occupy The fevered field and farmer’s prayer. Hot molten gold ignites the sky. I watch a flirty butterfly Dance to a scarlet trumpet’s blare; It’s summertime. I’m cirrus high. The crickets chirp. The nightjars cry. I breathe star jasmine scented air. Hot molten gold ignites the sky. I sip iced lemonade and lie Swathed in heat’s hypnotic glare. It’s summertime. I’m cirrus high. Sol’s sizzling kisses draw a sigh In lazy days that lay skin bare— Hot molten gold ignites the sky. It’s summertime. I’m cirrus high. First published in Expansive Poetry Online . . Summer in Texas She’s here and she is rowdy. I hear her holler Howdy! __In tones that scorch the earth and torch the skies. Her florid gaze is hazy with torrid flares of crazy __That burn in lazy sighs and fiery eyes. She smolders and she simmers. She scintillates and shimmers. __She dizzies as she dazzles with a kiss. Her searing effervescence will melt the icy presence __Of frosty hearts in Winter’s stark abyss. She tangoes and she tiptoes enswathed in parched mosquitoes __Abuzz with lust to guzzle blood and spoil Alfresco margaritas—her swarms of greedy skeeters __All double in the bubble of her boil. She tickles as she prickles with licks of sticky trickles— __Those rivulets of sweat—a steaming glitch. This coruscating harlot will turn your neck to scarlet __With fire-breathing ire. She’s a witch. She sizzles as she frazzles the folk who watch her dazzle __And dump her dust as farmers pray for rain. She revels with the Devil at roasty-toasty levels __Of heat that pyro-psychos deem insane. She’s at the very nexus of seasons here in Texas. __She burns through spring and winter… fall as well. This diva specializes in hosts of hot surprises— __Our hellish, cursed and cherished, Lone Star belle. First published in Snakeskin . . Susan Jarvis Bryant has poetry published on Lighten Up Online, Snakeskin, Light, Sparks of Calliope, and Expansive Poetry Online. She also has poetry published in TRINACRIA, Beth Houston’s Extreme Formal Poems anthology, and in Openings (anthologies of poems by Open University Poets in the UK). Susan is the winner of the 2020 International SCP Poetry Competition, and has been nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Prize. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. Trending now: 38 Responses Rohini August 9, 2023 These are brilliant, as always, Susan! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Rohini, my fellow villanelle-lover, thank you very much indeed! Reply Paddy Raghunathan August 9, 2023 Susan, You just have a way with words. Dazzling. Best regards, Paddy Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Thank you for your kind words, Paddy. They’re thoroughly appreciated. Reply Phil S. Rogers August 9, 2023 Susan; Only those of us who live in Texas can fully the relate to your poems, as we swelter at 100+ degrees every day. “She tangoes and she tiptoes, enswathed with parched mosquitoes Abuzz with lust to guzzle blood and spoil Alfresco margaritas–” Just love it. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Thank you very much, Phil. I simply had to include a blood-guzzling scourge of mosquitoes… Texas isn’t Texas without those skin-pricking, fun-sucking horrors! LOL Reply Roy Eugene Peterson August 9, 2023 Great poems on Texas heat! I had just sent four of them myself earlier today before seeing these. Since these are already here, I suspect mine will not be published, but these are superb with humor that singes the eyebrows and burns the retinas. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Thank you very much, Roy… I hope your eyebrows and retinas are restored to their former glory… any poetry on the temperatures in Texas should come with a red alert – peruse at your own peril. I look forward to reading your sizzling creations. Reply Julian D. Woodruff August 9, 2023 Oh, Susan “Summer in Texas” ought to be: Rolling off Hank Jr.’s tongue On an album, and be sung From memory by millions, day and night! The villanelles are great, too. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Julian, what a beautiful and creative comment… a poetic observation that has made my heart sing! Thank you! Reply Joseph S. Salemi August 9, 2023 Susan Bryant has great skill in handling the villanelle. This particular form can be tricky, as the insistent repetends can become trite and tedious if they are cliched or uninteresting. Susan’s command of vocabulary in the non-repeating lines keeps the reader’s interest (look at “Plum-drunk hornets swirl and hum / Round putrid fruit in rot’s mystique”). There’s also the wonderful “I watch a flirty butterfly / Dance to a scarlet trumpet’s blare.” This poet is not afraid of the riches of language, and she’s not going to let any barebones puritan tell her to hold back. “Summer in Texas” personifies the season as a mischievous and troublesome woman, going through the state of Texas like a penitential visitation of heat, sweat, and discomfort. It is amazingly descriptive in its force. I have one question. In the fifth quatrain, the first line doesn’t give us a solid internal rhyme, as all the other quatrains do. Instead of “frazzles” and “drizzle,” why not “frazzles” and “dazzle”? The rhyme becomes perfect, and the shift in meaning is hardly something to worry about. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Joe, I thoroughly appreciate you casting your fine eye over these poems. I’m particularly thrilled with the lines you’ve chosen… especially those tipsy hornets. I enjoyed writing that line. I also appreciate your suggestion for change in “Summer in Texas” – I embrace the shift in meaning, my only concern with it being, I didn’t think of this perfect pairing myself – darn it!! Thank you very much indeed! I’ll ask Mike to change it. Reply Margaret Coats August 9, 2023 Hum is the sound for summer, and I hope your hummingbirds are well-sheltered with enough water. “Plum-drunk” catches my fancy for later this evening, as I have an unopened bottle of plum wine. Susan, this is an amazingly creative pair of villanelles. You have worked not only to polish the form in each, but to perfect the pairing of pieces that deal with opposite aspects of the same summertime reality. Difficult artistry that is awe-sum indeed! And I must congratulate you on the scientifically astute “Hot molten gold ignites the sky.” The most significant cause of higher temperatures is the one whose currently extreme activity (in sunspots) nothing on earth can escape. Very, very good all around. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Margaret, thank you very much for your close reading of my poems, especially the villanelles. Sadly, I must admit that my “Hot molten gold ignites the sky” had nothing to do with me being “scientifically astute” – I only wish I were that intelligent. I was thinking merely of the appearance of the sun in the summer heat… to me, it looks like a shimmering liquid pool. I do, however, love your take. I also love the idea of a drop of plum wine. My grandfather used to make fruit wines and I’ve never tasted anything as lovely as his blackberry wine sipped under moonlight at summer gatherings in his perfectly manicured English garden. Thank you for your thoughtful comment and for stirring some beautiful memories. Reply Cynthia Erlandson August 9, 2023 These poems all truly effervesce! And they present the poet as a real lover of life; even when life is uncomfortable, she finds many things to be entrancing, and puts herself in the midst of them! I lived in Texas for two years, long ago, and didn’t do well at appreciating the climate, as you have here. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Cynthia, thank you very much indeed… I’m glad these poems effervesce – we could all do with a bit of fizz and sparkle in these flat, gray days. A large helping of jolly lingo in days where there’s a dearth of delight, is food for the soul. Living in Texas during the summer months is tough… Cynthia, it’s great to know you know exactly where I’m coming from. Reply Brian A. Yapko August 10, 2023 Each of these Texas poems is a gem, Susan, which charms the reader with the special delight that you take in alliteration, assonance and internal rhyme. As you revel in such poetic devices your style sparkles like poetic champagne. The two villanelles paint a charming portrait of a hot Texas summer (New Mexico is pretty hot these days too) and each provides an observant contrast with the other. Really, it boils down to dueling visions: “I’m roasting under summer’s thumb.” versus “Hot molten gold ignites the sky.” It’s almost as if the pessimist and the optimist are both asked to describe the same conditions. I love poetry which pairs contrasting points of view and these two are perfect. “Sear” or “cheer”? Why choose? Of the three my favorite is “Summer in Texas.” The structure is unusual and musical. Its internal rhymes impart it with a certain momentum. Reading through it I found myself instinctively setting it to music. Did you have a melody in mind as your wrote this? If this is not a song lyric, it really ought to be. And, although your social and political commentary is deeply appreciated and important, it is nice to see you take a break and write for the fun and beauty of it! I so appreciate the opportunity for us to share a smile! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Brian, it’s always lovely to hear from you and I particularly appreciate your spot-on observations on the contrasting villanelles. I have personal experience of both angles… and have chosen to view the Texas heat from the optimist’s standpoint. The main reason is the hummingbirds… I love them so much, I’ll sweat in the sear just to be near them… all thought of discomfort melts the minute their feathers gleam in the fierce rays of the unforgiving sun. Mind you, I did move from the polite climate of England to this harsh and hellish boil for a reason way beyond my love of ruby-throated wingéd things. 😉 ‘Summer in Texas’ was huge fun to write. I didn’t have a melody in mind when I wrote it. It’s just one of those poems where the words sang to me and I got swept away in the rhythm of it after composing the first couple of lines. When I read it aloud, I want to sing it… I would love to set it to music, but sadly, I’m no musician. I agree with you on the smile front. I am aiming to send a few more smiles your way… I have plenty to smile about. Brian, thanks you very much! Reply Mark Stellinga August 10, 2023 Susan, Summer in Texas made me feel so warm I asked Connie to check our thermostat – I suspected our AC had broken down! Conversely, we Iowans struggle with the opposite extreme when your lot are still wearing short sleeves. Just in case we head south this winter, how big is your spare room? 🙂 Loved all 3 — Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Mark, thank you for your wonderful comment. I am over the moon that that the heat of my words travelled your way! If you do decide to travel our way, it would be great to meet you! Reply Joshua C. Frank August 10, 2023 These are all great, but it’s the first I identify with most, living in central Texas myself, where it always gets over 100°, sometimes 110°, and even night is over 90°. I’m not a fan of Texas summer myself. My favorite part is the last stanza… that says it all. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Josh, thank you for your comment – I’m glad you enjoyed the poems, and I can appreciate exactly how you feel in this brutal blast of heat, which seems to last nearly all year round! I used to gasp when the humidity engulfed me… and then shiver as the air con as the local shops froze me. When I first arrived in Texas, I wondered how people could work outside in these conditions, and as for dogs… why did they still have fur?! My advice is: stay hydrated, stay shaded, but never turn down an opportunity to get with nature… there are plenty of rivers and bays, plenty of wildlife refuges, and there’s plenty of fun to be had… if you look beyond the burn. Reply Paul A. Freeman August 10, 2023 Indeed, heat waves here, there and everywhere. Even Santa Anna would’ve worn a bandana and got stocked up from Pepsi Co as he travelled up from Mexico and maybe spared the Texicans from blood-thirsty Mexicans if the weather was as hot as it’s recently got. As always, your fun poems are…fun. Of course the elephant in the room could well be climate change. Reply Joshua C. Frank August 10, 2023 There you go again, always criticizing Susan and making everything she writes into something about one of your pet leftist agendas. How about all the elephants in the room you people castigate us for daring to mention? She didn’t call her collection Elephants Unleashed for nothing. You presumably saw my recent poem “The Certainty of Kelly Green” and its footnote explaining its origin. Do you really want to go after Susan after I excoriated someone else in a poem for doing the same? Think of that poem as a warning for anyone who wants to pick on my friends. Reply Joseph S. Salemi August 11, 2023 Believing in “climate change” (formerly called “global warming”) is like believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. But it’s a defined dogma in left-liberal religion, and therefore Paul feels he must mention it. Reply C.B. Anderson August 11, 2023 Right, Joseph. The only climate change we really need is for certain ideologues to stop venting hot air. Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 That darn elephant… climate change… where the weather is always our fault and the answer is more communism. I knew I could depend upon someone to suck the sunshine out of my rhyme, rhythm, and rapture. Thank you, Paul… it’s feeling decidedly chillier here in Texas. Reply Mike Bryant August 10, 2023 First of all… your wicked way with words is on full display in these beautiful poems about Texas summer… thank God in Heaven for air conditioning… did I hear a whisper about climate change? That’s good because everyone that cares enough to check things out already knows that the old “global warming” tag had to be changed because it just ain’t happening! The moniker “climate change” covers everything… too hot? Too cold? Too rainy? Too dry? Too much snow? Not enough snow? Climate change covers it all… If another plandemic doesn’t work out — CLIMATE CHANGE!!! Climate lockdowns will keep those horrible SUVs off the roads… also don’t plan any international vacations… we all know how evil those jets are. Texas has been hot and, briefly, cold for a long, long time. Before “climate change” we used to call it the seasons. Hmmm… if climate doesn’t scare enough people… there are always those pesky UFOs… oops, I mean UAPs. I used to think there was a slight possibility that aliens from outer space were visiting our gorgeous, green earth, but now that the government is pushing the UAP/UFO narrative through released videos and whistleblowers, it’s obvious that it’s just another hobgoblin meant to keep the uninformed in line. “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” – H. L. Mencken Reply C.B. Anderson August 11, 2023 I think, Mike, that we share a brain. I doubt that that would scare you as much as knowing that there are many persons who don’t understand the difference between climate and weather. How many times do we need to keep going over this distinction before the hot-air balloon people are finally punctured? Reply Mike Bryant August 11, 2023 We share the common sense that comes from living and working for the last fifty years or so. We’ve heard and seen prediction after prediction of doom come to naught. Most people only believe what they hear from government approved news sources. Expect our fearless resident to declare a “CLIMATE EMERGENCY!!!” around August 15… all the pieces are in place. Get ready for lockdowns, forced blackouts, limited trucking, air traffic shutdowns, food shortages, and all the “Current Thing Evangelists” screaming insults at Climate Deniers, Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Theorists, Planet Killers, Science Deniers, Egomaniacs, Ideological Fools, Misinformers… basically a rerun of 2020 with a new hobgoblin. When an Emergency is declared, the state takes on tyrannical powers, although they seem to be doing everything they want right now. It’s starting to look like those preppers may have had the right idea. Joshua C. Frank August 11, 2023 The problem with preppers is that they don’t go far enough. Read the book Surviving Off Off-Grid by Michael Bunker. Mia August 10, 2023 I have a cousin a Rhodes and spoke to him about the fires. They think it’s arson. On the same day I saw footage of a drone in Italy filming a man who was starting a fire out in the wilds having got there on his motorbike. Presumably the motorbike was to get away as quickly as possible. Perhaps someone will find that on the internet. It was in the Daily Mail. Fifty fires in Greece started on the same day. Haven’t heard of any in Turkey though. Perhaps there will be one there soon. Pretty strange though as the island of Rhodes is right next to Turkey. Trees and wildlife and villages and peoples lives destroyed . Do we hear anything about these people. No. Instead Greece is lambasted if they fail to rescue every single boat and people left stranded ON PURPOSE on uninhabited islands. Reply Mike Bryant August 10, 2023 Mia… the lies never end. There is even a website that keeps track of the last fifty odd years of doomsday predictions made by Climate Alarmists in the scientific community and environmental movement. Not even ONE of those chicken little forecasts have come to pass. Every single database absolutely proves that there is nothing… nothing at all disastrous or catastrophic about a two degree rise in average earth temperature. Earth’s average temperature right now is 57.5°F / 14.17°C Deviation: 0.3°F / 0.17°C. Because of the internet 68,852 weather stations were processed and averaged in the last hour to come up with that number. There is NOT an earth wide heat spike happening. Just more lies. Over the last hundred years deaths attributable to climate have declined tremendously because we have better forecasting and people are richer. Making people poorer will only cause more to die. Did you know that colder weather causes many more deaths and injuries than hotter weather? The powers that are profiting from this scam do NOT want anyone to know these inconvenient truths. As far as wildfires go, hot weather does NOT cause them… people with matches do and lightning does. I think there must be some kind of pleasure derived from spreading doom, but I cannot imagine what sort of person could experience it. There is an old poem, published in 1921… 102 years ago, that explores this compulsion that some people have. It is named “Said Hanrahan” and was written by Australian bush poet John O’Brien, the pen name of Roman Catholic priest Patrick Joseph Hartigan. Said Hanrahan “We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, In accents most forlorn, Outside the church, ere Mass began, One frosty Sunday morn. The congregation stood about, Coat-collars to the ears, And talked of stock, and crops, and drought, As it had done for years. “It’s looking crook,” said Daniel Croke; “Bedad, it’s cruke, me lad, For never since the banks went broke Has seasons been so bad.” “It’s dry, all right,” said young O’Neil, With which astute remark He squatted down upon his heel And chewed a piece of bark. And so around the chorus ran “It’s keepin’ dry, no doubt.” “We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, “Before the year is out.” “The crops are done; ye’ll have your work To save one bag of grain; From here way out to Back-o’-Bourke They’re singin’ out for rain. “They’re singin’ out for rain,” he said, “And all the tanks are dry.” The congregation scratched its head, And gazed around the sky. “There won’t be grass, in any case, Enough to feed an ass; There’s not a blade on Casey’s place As I came down to Mass.” “If rain don’t come this month,” said Dan, And cleared his throat to speak – “We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, “If rain don’t come this week.” A heavy silence seemed to steal On all at this remark; And each man squatted on his heel, And chewed a piece of bark. “We want an inch of rain, we do,” O’Neil observed at last; But Croke “maintained” we wanted two To put the danger past. “If we don’t get three inches, man, Or four to break this drought, We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, “Before the year is out.” In God’s good time down came the rain; And all the afternoon On iron roof and window-pane It drummed a homely tune. And through the night it pattered still, And lightsome, gladsome elves On dripping spout and window-sill Kept talking to themselves. It pelted, pelted all day long, A-singing at its work, Till every heart took up the song Way out to Back-o’-Bourke. And every creek a banker ran, And dams filled overtop; “We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, “If this rain doesn’t stop.” And stop it did, in God’s good time; And spring came in to fold A mantle o’er the hills sublime Of green and pink and gold. And days went by on dancing feet, With harvest-hopes immense, And laughing eyes beheld the wheat Nid-nodding o’er the fence. And, oh, the smiles on every face, As happy lad and lass Through grass knee-deep on Casey’s place Went riding down to Mass. While round the church in clothes genteel Discoursed the men of mark, And each man squatted on his heel, And chewed his piece of bark. “There’ll be bush-fires for sure, me man, There will, without a doubt; We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, “Before the year is out.” John O’Brien Reply Shaun C. Duncan August 11, 2023 The villanelle seems well-suited to your elaborate and highly musical style and the two you’ve published here are both sensational examples of the form. Although it’s still technically winter here in Australia, I find these poems quite evocative of our own rapidly approaching summer which, of course, is being hyped as the Worst Ever. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant August 11, 2023 Shaun, thank you very much for your appreciative comment. I’m thrilled you enjoyed the villanelles, and I can see how they would apply to an Australian summer. As a Brit, I’ve survived the blistering summer of 1976 where our school desks were placed outside under the shade of trees because the classrooms were too hot, and standpipes were put in the street because of the resulting drought… and we were meant to be going through an ice age! Just before I arrived in Texas, the UK suffered a whiteout – deep snow everywhere in an age where snow was meant to be long gone. And here we are… the same old guff warmed over and the gullible are still latching on to the chicken-little predictions and running with them. I suppose we’ll have to put up with this insidious idiocy until the sky falls… brace yourself for an ad-nauseum gutful of griping and fearmongering… Groundhog Day on steroids. Reply Yael August 12, 2023 Delightful summer-rhymes Susan: I enjoyed them all. But I must admit I’m really smitten by ‘Said Hanrahan’, which is awesome! Thank you for posting this Mike, I had never heard of John O’Brien before. Reply Mike Bryant August 13, 2023 You’re welcome, Yael… I found that poem years ago on the best climate change truth website: wattsupwiththat.com Some people just gotta chicken little their lives away. Reply Yael August 13, 2023 It’s true, it takes all kinds. I’ve known people who were not happy unless they were unhappy and loudly complaining about it. Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Rohini, my fellow villanelle-lover, thank you very much indeed! Reply
Paddy Raghunathan August 9, 2023 Susan, You just have a way with words. Dazzling. Best regards, Paddy Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Thank you for your kind words, Paddy. They’re thoroughly appreciated. Reply
Phil S. Rogers August 9, 2023 Susan; Only those of us who live in Texas can fully the relate to your poems, as we swelter at 100+ degrees every day. “She tangoes and she tiptoes, enswathed with parched mosquitoes Abuzz with lust to guzzle blood and spoil Alfresco margaritas–” Just love it. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Thank you very much, Phil. I simply had to include a blood-guzzling scourge of mosquitoes… Texas isn’t Texas without those skin-pricking, fun-sucking horrors! LOL Reply
Roy Eugene Peterson August 9, 2023 Great poems on Texas heat! I had just sent four of them myself earlier today before seeing these. Since these are already here, I suspect mine will not be published, but these are superb with humor that singes the eyebrows and burns the retinas. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Thank you very much, Roy… I hope your eyebrows and retinas are restored to their former glory… any poetry on the temperatures in Texas should come with a red alert – peruse at your own peril. I look forward to reading your sizzling creations. Reply
Julian D. Woodruff August 9, 2023 Oh, Susan “Summer in Texas” ought to be: Rolling off Hank Jr.’s tongue On an album, and be sung From memory by millions, day and night! The villanelles are great, too. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Julian, what a beautiful and creative comment… a poetic observation that has made my heart sing! Thank you! Reply
Joseph S. Salemi August 9, 2023 Susan Bryant has great skill in handling the villanelle. This particular form can be tricky, as the insistent repetends can become trite and tedious if they are cliched or uninteresting. Susan’s command of vocabulary in the non-repeating lines keeps the reader’s interest (look at “Plum-drunk hornets swirl and hum / Round putrid fruit in rot’s mystique”). There’s also the wonderful “I watch a flirty butterfly / Dance to a scarlet trumpet’s blare.” This poet is not afraid of the riches of language, and she’s not going to let any barebones puritan tell her to hold back. “Summer in Texas” personifies the season as a mischievous and troublesome woman, going through the state of Texas like a penitential visitation of heat, sweat, and discomfort. It is amazingly descriptive in its force. I have one question. In the fifth quatrain, the first line doesn’t give us a solid internal rhyme, as all the other quatrains do. Instead of “frazzles” and “drizzle,” why not “frazzles” and “dazzle”? The rhyme becomes perfect, and the shift in meaning is hardly something to worry about. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Joe, I thoroughly appreciate you casting your fine eye over these poems. I’m particularly thrilled with the lines you’ve chosen… especially those tipsy hornets. I enjoyed writing that line. I also appreciate your suggestion for change in “Summer in Texas” – I embrace the shift in meaning, my only concern with it being, I didn’t think of this perfect pairing myself – darn it!! Thank you very much indeed! I’ll ask Mike to change it. Reply
Margaret Coats August 9, 2023 Hum is the sound for summer, and I hope your hummingbirds are well-sheltered with enough water. “Plum-drunk” catches my fancy for later this evening, as I have an unopened bottle of plum wine. Susan, this is an amazingly creative pair of villanelles. You have worked not only to polish the form in each, but to perfect the pairing of pieces that deal with opposite aspects of the same summertime reality. Difficult artistry that is awe-sum indeed! And I must congratulate you on the scientifically astute “Hot molten gold ignites the sky.” The most significant cause of higher temperatures is the one whose currently extreme activity (in sunspots) nothing on earth can escape. Very, very good all around. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Margaret, thank you very much for your close reading of my poems, especially the villanelles. Sadly, I must admit that my “Hot molten gold ignites the sky” had nothing to do with me being “scientifically astute” – I only wish I were that intelligent. I was thinking merely of the appearance of the sun in the summer heat… to me, it looks like a shimmering liquid pool. I do, however, love your take. I also love the idea of a drop of plum wine. My grandfather used to make fruit wines and I’ve never tasted anything as lovely as his blackberry wine sipped under moonlight at summer gatherings in his perfectly manicured English garden. Thank you for your thoughtful comment and for stirring some beautiful memories. Reply
Cynthia Erlandson August 9, 2023 These poems all truly effervesce! And they present the poet as a real lover of life; even when life is uncomfortable, she finds many things to be entrancing, and puts herself in the midst of them! I lived in Texas for two years, long ago, and didn’t do well at appreciating the climate, as you have here. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Cynthia, thank you very much indeed… I’m glad these poems effervesce – we could all do with a bit of fizz and sparkle in these flat, gray days. A large helping of jolly lingo in days where there’s a dearth of delight, is food for the soul. Living in Texas during the summer months is tough… Cynthia, it’s great to know you know exactly where I’m coming from. Reply
Brian A. Yapko August 10, 2023 Each of these Texas poems is a gem, Susan, which charms the reader with the special delight that you take in alliteration, assonance and internal rhyme. As you revel in such poetic devices your style sparkles like poetic champagne. The two villanelles paint a charming portrait of a hot Texas summer (New Mexico is pretty hot these days too) and each provides an observant contrast with the other. Really, it boils down to dueling visions: “I’m roasting under summer’s thumb.” versus “Hot molten gold ignites the sky.” It’s almost as if the pessimist and the optimist are both asked to describe the same conditions. I love poetry which pairs contrasting points of view and these two are perfect. “Sear” or “cheer”? Why choose? Of the three my favorite is “Summer in Texas.” The structure is unusual and musical. Its internal rhymes impart it with a certain momentum. Reading through it I found myself instinctively setting it to music. Did you have a melody in mind as your wrote this? If this is not a song lyric, it really ought to be. And, although your social and political commentary is deeply appreciated and important, it is nice to see you take a break and write for the fun and beauty of it! I so appreciate the opportunity for us to share a smile! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Brian, it’s always lovely to hear from you and I particularly appreciate your spot-on observations on the contrasting villanelles. I have personal experience of both angles… and have chosen to view the Texas heat from the optimist’s standpoint. The main reason is the hummingbirds… I love them so much, I’ll sweat in the sear just to be near them… all thought of discomfort melts the minute their feathers gleam in the fierce rays of the unforgiving sun. Mind you, I did move from the polite climate of England to this harsh and hellish boil for a reason way beyond my love of ruby-throated wingéd things. 😉 ‘Summer in Texas’ was huge fun to write. I didn’t have a melody in mind when I wrote it. It’s just one of those poems where the words sang to me and I got swept away in the rhythm of it after composing the first couple of lines. When I read it aloud, I want to sing it… I would love to set it to music, but sadly, I’m no musician. I agree with you on the smile front. I am aiming to send a few more smiles your way… I have plenty to smile about. Brian, thanks you very much! Reply
Mark Stellinga August 10, 2023 Susan, Summer in Texas made me feel so warm I asked Connie to check our thermostat – I suspected our AC had broken down! Conversely, we Iowans struggle with the opposite extreme when your lot are still wearing short sleeves. Just in case we head south this winter, how big is your spare room? 🙂 Loved all 3 — Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Mark, thank you for your wonderful comment. I am over the moon that that the heat of my words travelled your way! If you do decide to travel our way, it would be great to meet you! Reply
Joshua C. Frank August 10, 2023 These are all great, but it’s the first I identify with most, living in central Texas myself, where it always gets over 100°, sometimes 110°, and even night is over 90°. I’m not a fan of Texas summer myself. My favorite part is the last stanza… that says it all. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 Josh, thank you for your comment – I’m glad you enjoyed the poems, and I can appreciate exactly how you feel in this brutal blast of heat, which seems to last nearly all year round! I used to gasp when the humidity engulfed me… and then shiver as the air con as the local shops froze me. When I first arrived in Texas, I wondered how people could work outside in these conditions, and as for dogs… why did they still have fur?! My advice is: stay hydrated, stay shaded, but never turn down an opportunity to get with nature… there are plenty of rivers and bays, plenty of wildlife refuges, and there’s plenty of fun to be had… if you look beyond the burn. Reply
Paul A. Freeman August 10, 2023 Indeed, heat waves here, there and everywhere. Even Santa Anna would’ve worn a bandana and got stocked up from Pepsi Co as he travelled up from Mexico and maybe spared the Texicans from blood-thirsty Mexicans if the weather was as hot as it’s recently got. As always, your fun poems are…fun. Of course the elephant in the room could well be climate change. Reply
Joshua C. Frank August 10, 2023 There you go again, always criticizing Susan and making everything she writes into something about one of your pet leftist agendas. How about all the elephants in the room you people castigate us for daring to mention? She didn’t call her collection Elephants Unleashed for nothing. You presumably saw my recent poem “The Certainty of Kelly Green” and its footnote explaining its origin. Do you really want to go after Susan after I excoriated someone else in a poem for doing the same? Think of that poem as a warning for anyone who wants to pick on my friends. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi August 11, 2023 Believing in “climate change” (formerly called “global warming”) is like believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. But it’s a defined dogma in left-liberal religion, and therefore Paul feels he must mention it. Reply
C.B. Anderson August 11, 2023 Right, Joseph. The only climate change we really need is for certain ideologues to stop venting hot air.
Susan Jarvis Bryant August 10, 2023 That darn elephant… climate change… where the weather is always our fault and the answer is more communism. I knew I could depend upon someone to suck the sunshine out of my rhyme, rhythm, and rapture. Thank you, Paul… it’s feeling decidedly chillier here in Texas. Reply
Mike Bryant August 10, 2023 First of all… your wicked way with words is on full display in these beautiful poems about Texas summer… thank God in Heaven for air conditioning… did I hear a whisper about climate change? That’s good because everyone that cares enough to check things out already knows that the old “global warming” tag had to be changed because it just ain’t happening! The moniker “climate change” covers everything… too hot? Too cold? Too rainy? Too dry? Too much snow? Not enough snow? Climate change covers it all… If another plandemic doesn’t work out — CLIMATE CHANGE!!! Climate lockdowns will keep those horrible SUVs off the roads… also don’t plan any international vacations… we all know how evil those jets are. Texas has been hot and, briefly, cold for a long, long time. Before “climate change” we used to call it the seasons. Hmmm… if climate doesn’t scare enough people… there are always those pesky UFOs… oops, I mean UAPs. I used to think there was a slight possibility that aliens from outer space were visiting our gorgeous, green earth, but now that the government is pushing the UAP/UFO narrative through released videos and whistleblowers, it’s obvious that it’s just another hobgoblin meant to keep the uninformed in line. “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” – H. L. Mencken Reply
C.B. Anderson August 11, 2023 I think, Mike, that we share a brain. I doubt that that would scare you as much as knowing that there are many persons who don’t understand the difference between climate and weather. How many times do we need to keep going over this distinction before the hot-air balloon people are finally punctured? Reply
Mike Bryant August 11, 2023 We share the common sense that comes from living and working for the last fifty years or so. We’ve heard and seen prediction after prediction of doom come to naught. Most people only believe what they hear from government approved news sources. Expect our fearless resident to declare a “CLIMATE EMERGENCY!!!” around August 15… all the pieces are in place. Get ready for lockdowns, forced blackouts, limited trucking, air traffic shutdowns, food shortages, and all the “Current Thing Evangelists” screaming insults at Climate Deniers, Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Theorists, Planet Killers, Science Deniers, Egomaniacs, Ideological Fools, Misinformers… basically a rerun of 2020 with a new hobgoblin. When an Emergency is declared, the state takes on tyrannical powers, although they seem to be doing everything they want right now. It’s starting to look like those preppers may have had the right idea.
Joshua C. Frank August 11, 2023 The problem with preppers is that they don’t go far enough. Read the book Surviving Off Off-Grid by Michael Bunker.
Mia August 10, 2023 I have a cousin a Rhodes and spoke to him about the fires. They think it’s arson. On the same day I saw footage of a drone in Italy filming a man who was starting a fire out in the wilds having got there on his motorbike. Presumably the motorbike was to get away as quickly as possible. Perhaps someone will find that on the internet. It was in the Daily Mail. Fifty fires in Greece started on the same day. Haven’t heard of any in Turkey though. Perhaps there will be one there soon. Pretty strange though as the island of Rhodes is right next to Turkey. Trees and wildlife and villages and peoples lives destroyed . Do we hear anything about these people. No. Instead Greece is lambasted if they fail to rescue every single boat and people left stranded ON PURPOSE on uninhabited islands. Reply
Mike Bryant August 10, 2023 Mia… the lies never end. There is even a website that keeps track of the last fifty odd years of doomsday predictions made by Climate Alarmists in the scientific community and environmental movement. Not even ONE of those chicken little forecasts have come to pass. Every single database absolutely proves that there is nothing… nothing at all disastrous or catastrophic about a two degree rise in average earth temperature. Earth’s average temperature right now is 57.5°F / 14.17°C Deviation: 0.3°F / 0.17°C. Because of the internet 68,852 weather stations were processed and averaged in the last hour to come up with that number. There is NOT an earth wide heat spike happening. Just more lies. Over the last hundred years deaths attributable to climate have declined tremendously because we have better forecasting and people are richer. Making people poorer will only cause more to die. Did you know that colder weather causes many more deaths and injuries than hotter weather? The powers that are profiting from this scam do NOT want anyone to know these inconvenient truths. As far as wildfires go, hot weather does NOT cause them… people with matches do and lightning does. I think there must be some kind of pleasure derived from spreading doom, but I cannot imagine what sort of person could experience it. There is an old poem, published in 1921… 102 years ago, that explores this compulsion that some people have. It is named “Said Hanrahan” and was written by Australian bush poet John O’Brien, the pen name of Roman Catholic priest Patrick Joseph Hartigan. Said Hanrahan “We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, In accents most forlorn, Outside the church, ere Mass began, One frosty Sunday morn. The congregation stood about, Coat-collars to the ears, And talked of stock, and crops, and drought, As it had done for years. “It’s looking crook,” said Daniel Croke; “Bedad, it’s cruke, me lad, For never since the banks went broke Has seasons been so bad.” “It’s dry, all right,” said young O’Neil, With which astute remark He squatted down upon his heel And chewed a piece of bark. And so around the chorus ran “It’s keepin’ dry, no doubt.” “We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, “Before the year is out.” “The crops are done; ye’ll have your work To save one bag of grain; From here way out to Back-o’-Bourke They’re singin’ out for rain. “They’re singin’ out for rain,” he said, “And all the tanks are dry.” The congregation scratched its head, And gazed around the sky. “There won’t be grass, in any case, Enough to feed an ass; There’s not a blade on Casey’s place As I came down to Mass.” “If rain don’t come this month,” said Dan, And cleared his throat to speak – “We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, “If rain don’t come this week.” A heavy silence seemed to steal On all at this remark; And each man squatted on his heel, And chewed a piece of bark. “We want an inch of rain, we do,” O’Neil observed at last; But Croke “maintained” we wanted two To put the danger past. “If we don’t get three inches, man, Or four to break this drought, We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, “Before the year is out.” In God’s good time down came the rain; And all the afternoon On iron roof and window-pane It drummed a homely tune. And through the night it pattered still, And lightsome, gladsome elves On dripping spout and window-sill Kept talking to themselves. It pelted, pelted all day long, A-singing at its work, Till every heart took up the song Way out to Back-o’-Bourke. And every creek a banker ran, And dams filled overtop; “We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, “If this rain doesn’t stop.” And stop it did, in God’s good time; And spring came in to fold A mantle o’er the hills sublime Of green and pink and gold. And days went by on dancing feet, With harvest-hopes immense, And laughing eyes beheld the wheat Nid-nodding o’er the fence. And, oh, the smiles on every face, As happy lad and lass Through grass knee-deep on Casey’s place Went riding down to Mass. While round the church in clothes genteel Discoursed the men of mark, And each man squatted on his heel, And chewed his piece of bark. “There’ll be bush-fires for sure, me man, There will, without a doubt; We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, “Before the year is out.” John O’Brien Reply
Shaun C. Duncan August 11, 2023 The villanelle seems well-suited to your elaborate and highly musical style and the two you’ve published here are both sensational examples of the form. Although it’s still technically winter here in Australia, I find these poems quite evocative of our own rapidly approaching summer which, of course, is being hyped as the Worst Ever. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant August 11, 2023 Shaun, thank you very much for your appreciative comment. I’m thrilled you enjoyed the villanelles, and I can see how they would apply to an Australian summer. As a Brit, I’ve survived the blistering summer of 1976 where our school desks were placed outside under the shade of trees because the classrooms were too hot, and standpipes were put in the street because of the resulting drought… and we were meant to be going through an ice age! Just before I arrived in Texas, the UK suffered a whiteout – deep snow everywhere in an age where snow was meant to be long gone. And here we are… the same old guff warmed over and the gullible are still latching on to the chicken-little predictions and running with them. I suppose we’ll have to put up with this insidious idiocy until the sky falls… brace yourself for an ad-nauseum gutful of griping and fearmongering… Groundhog Day on steroids. Reply
Yael August 12, 2023 Delightful summer-rhymes Susan: I enjoyed them all. But I must admit I’m really smitten by ‘Said Hanrahan’, which is awesome! Thank you for posting this Mike, I had never heard of John O’Brien before. Reply
Mike Bryant August 13, 2023 You’re welcome, Yael… I found that poem years ago on the best climate change truth website: wattsupwiththat.com Some people just gotta chicken little their lives away. Reply
Yael August 13, 2023 It’s true, it takes all kinds. I’ve known people who were not happy unless they were unhappy and loudly complaining about it.
