Dog Days
The poem depicts how August’s typical sunny heat can disturb as well as comfort: in times of tension, the poem’s speaker finds a troubled comfort in imagining a cooler climate.
Heather Chapman
Summer’s jaws close like a glove
over my wrist. August again,
and the light falls slow and bruising.
I keep a box of winter under my bed: mist
over mountains, thrilled mouthful
of blue-cold. Lifting
the lid, my hands bubble
blisters, fingers thimble’d
with snow. The hinge gapes,
then snaps shut, laughs
a binary laugh. Down the road,
people water their grass
like it’s nothing. The dry ground hisses
under the rain.
Heather Chapman
Heather is a Durham University student. She was a 2023 Foyle Young Poet, was shortlisted for the 2024-5 Poetry Wales Award, and won the 2025 Hive Young Writers Competition. Her work is published in The Garlic Press, Bloodletter and Carmen et Error. She likes vampires, sestinas and Edward II.