Scene from the window:
England’s pale and yellow land
Dusty, burnt and parched
The view driving from Nottingham today was a clear contrast to previous weeks with the fields turned yellow and dry.
(21.07.26 revised 22.07.26)
© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Valentin Lacoste on Unsplash
A glorious name for something
as humble as a fruitfly.
A mere milimetre,
a comma in the air
punctuating the bowl
of warm and ripening bananas.
An overlooked contestant
in evolution’s race?
Perhaps, as whilst I wilt
under this heatwave’s sun
you’re born in paragraphs,
a cloud of dancing pauses.
Working today, I became aware of fruit flies, my companions from biochemistry days, accompanying me once more.
(09.07.26)
© Ben Quant 2026
Photo licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
The furious Sun has shone with anger,
With rasping rays that raked our days,
Set rooms afire throughout the night,
Burning the world, no sign of grace.
We’ve wished it gone and prayed for rain,
But as it finally edged away,
It shed its fury and shone with joy,
Its last hurrah guilt edged the day.
As the heat finally broke this afternoon we took a walk and were treated to this stunning sun down view.
(27.06.26)
© Ben Quant 2026
The furnace of the African sun
Was the perfect place to forge a friendship,
To meld our souls, two servants together.
It only seemed appropriate that
This friendship was restored today
Under the blaze of this burning Sun.
As one we walk in different fields,
A common life in different cultures,
Together refined by Christ the Son.
In an act of perfect symmetry I was reunited with a friend from Sierra Leone in a heatwave reminiscent of my time there.
(25.06.26)
© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Vincenzo Marotta on Unsplash
the rising heat pervades and saturates,
discombobulating, it smears and saps
our life, we sit and stare and take our turn
uttering, ‘It’s hot, too hot,’ our words become
confused and stumble, jumble, skip a line
and fall in greasy puddles around our shoes,
and start to slide apart, it is too much,
and slide apart, proximity adverse
The hottest day of yet another heatwave. It’s all too much…
(24.06.26)
© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash
These words have melted
All the stanzas are dripping
Poetic puddles
My brain has stopped working and the footie’s on the tele. Time for a haiku!
(23.06.26)
© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
Drenched in lethargy, an airless blanket,
stillness squeezes, leaves us breathless.
Yearned for, now we yearn for our release,
and silent sit and wait and longing sigh.
A simple look from friend or passing stranger
wordlessly communicates, ‘it’s hot’.
Enough, we do not speak, we can’t be bothered,
instead we slump or slowly amble on.
Another hot day. I popped into the church where I work this morning and relished a moment in the cool. And then I checked the the thermostat on the wall – in what world is 25.5 C cool in May?! Ridiculous.
(26.05.26)
© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Sylvester Sabo on Unsplash
Fling wide your aching doors, throw open windows,
For now the burning sun has started to dim,
Beyond the blue horizon it departs,
And at last the cooling breeze can whisper in.
This yearning land at last begins to breath,
An ease is found after the heavy heat,
Whilst news of soaring records fill the press,
Let’s rise to grasp this temporary reprieve.
34 degrees in May…
(25.05.26)
© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Luis Graterol on Unsplash
Plane trails bisect the midday sky;
The blue is cleaved in two. We sit.
Below the whole world sleeps,
Even the birds are silent and still.
At a family gathering today, sitting outside seeking shade.
(12.07.25)
© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Cadu de Castro Alves on Unsplash
The still summer sky is blue, clear blue,
The blue you imagine water to be as a child.
High above, a kite hangs. It’s effortless.
Swifts circle, our annual visitors making themselves at home.
Stupefied, nothing is moving here below.
We slowly melt upon our chairs and moan,
‘the heat!’ …Oh to dive into the blue.
Waiting for the heatwave to break and sleep to return.
(01.07.25)
© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Aron Schmitz on Unsplash
Ode for the Day 