It was too hot

English followed by une version en français y una versión en español.

The image with the two swans is cropped from a photo of what remained in late July 2026 of the lac des Brenets (a.k.a. Lac de Chaillexon) on the river Doubs on the border of Switzerland and France. This photo, and the one, slightly cropped, shown farther below, were taken by the photojournalist Jean-Christophe Bott.

On the technical side, first, this poem touches on the phenomenon of climate whiplash. Secondly, as regards poetic form, this is the latest of my “narrow” poems. Other examples (in English only): But oh it was and Oh my, oh my (copied below), another poem written in heat (in New York), and which was first published in 4 billion eggs. There has been a thought that for people these days, often reading on cellphone screens, the narrower the better. And thus too for our rivers and lakes?

English

And then it rained

Just a little?

No, rather a lot.

And then too cold

And then too hot

And then the rivers

They all dried up.

Our fish

What fish?

What bees?

What crops?

Too hot, we thought

We should have thought

And changed our ways

Before it got

Really really too hot

But it was too late

And sometimes it rained

Rather too little?

No, rather a lot.

Français

Il faisait trop chaud

Et puis il a plu

Pas juste un peu

Plutôt beaucoup.

Pour vivre c’était trop

Même si ensuite

Il a fait vraiment trop froid

Et puis encore chaud

Et puis tous les fleuves

De l’eau ? Pas du tout.

Et tous les poissons

Quels poissons ?

Quelles abeilles ?

Quelles récoltes ?

Aurious-nous dû y penser ?

Et changer nos habitudes

Avant qu’il ne fasse

Vraiment trop chaud ?

Mais il était trop tard

Et si parfois il pleuvait

C’était toujours trop.

C’était trop

Et trop chaud

Et aussi c’était tout.

Español

Hacía demasiado calor

Hacía calor

Demasiado

Y entonces, ¿menos mal?

Empezó a llover

No solo bastante

Sino demasiado

Y luego hacía

Demasiado frío

Y entonces volvió

A hacer calor

Y luego los ríos

Se secaron todos

Y todos los peces

¿Qué peces?

¿Qué abejas?

¿Qué cosechas?

¿Aceitunas o naranjas?

¿Qué íbamos a comer?

A pensar empezamos

En plena ola de calor

Pensamos que deberíamos

Haber pensado

Y nuestros hábitos

Deberíamos haber cambiado

Un poco antes

De que hiciera

Realmente

Demasiado

Calor

Oh my, oh my

Reprinted (though with too little changes) from 4 billion eggs.

’Twas a hot summer

Not just for thighs

On our bikes riding

Humid, my

Rosy swelling

And warm besides

Snug in cloth

And salty too

Welling O where?

Oh, oh, so nearby

Cloth softer now

And still warmer getting

And wetter too

Oh my, oh my

O rosy flesh

And tender sighs

That pedaling inspires

And humid besides

— Poem(s) and photograph by William Eaton. His first poetry collection, Light verse, light verse: Everything else is worse, included a whole section of “Narrow poetry.” As regards the contemporary European environment, fish and eating, readers might also be interested in The young woman and the sea (plus français et español también).