Ahh, the fresh scent of a new year— it smells like warm mud in a region that should be blanketed with snow. There’s much to wonder about as we step into 2025, and a curious public continues to ask Google all the biggest questions. Here are five of the major topics on our collective minds, per Google Trends.
1. 10 Legged Marine Crustacean
How could I not choose this search term from the list? In my ignorance, I thought someone had discovered a new sea creature, but no: it turns out many folks are just as clueless about marine crustacean anatomy as am, and thousands turned to the internet for help with this January 18th NYT crossword clue.
I won’t spoil the answer in case you’re still solving the puzzle, but it’s not a lobster. That said, a lobster is a marine crustacean and I’m from Massachusetts, so I hope you enjoy this wicked compelling poem from Anthony Walton.
2. Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg disappointed gen Xers and elder millennials everywhere when he participated in an inauguration party for Donald Trump during the second week of January. Let’s all take some time to look back on the fonder moments of Snoop’s career, including his 1993 hit “Who Am I (What’s My Name)?”.
Flipping the script a little, poet Terrance Hayes offers an answer to that titular question with the poem, “What I Am.”
3. Juárez - Cruz Azul
Okay so, this is about a soccer match— honestly not what I expected. I was familiar with the Mexican city of Juárez thanks to Netflix’s Narcos, but I hadn’t heard of the Cruz Azul team before. Sounds like we’ve been in the midst of the Liga MX futbol playoffs: Juárez won the last match I checked on.
I’ll stick with my Massachusetts bias for a minute by sharing a poem from a bilingual poet who lives on the opposite side of the commonwealth from me. Marjorie Agosín mentions Juárez in her poem, “Secrets in the Sand [And the night was a precipice].”
4. Blooming Waters
Please do not tell my nephews I had to google this; they will be deeply disappointed in me. TL;DR, it’s a Pokémon card collection and they are fanatics. One nephew was just bragging to me last night about a special set he acquired, though I don’t think it was this one.
Blooming waters recalls my favorite Mary Oliver poem, which is about water lilies. Here’s a highlight:
Still, what I want in my life
is to be willing
to be dazzled --
to cast aside the weight of facts
and maybe even
to float a little
above this difficult world.
5. Tik Tok
TikTok went dark halfway through the month. Millions of Americans were lost and sad without the video platform (though apparently not my 14-year-old son, who claims to be totally fine with everything all the time, nbd). In a dramatic turn, the platform returned less-than-triumphantly after a brief outage, crediting president Trump and showcasing revised algorithms. A friend bitterly posted, “my new fyp sucks.”
If you’re looking for video content to keep you entertained while lawmakers negotiate the terms of TikTok’s potential continuance, Poetry Foundation offers a series titled Poem Videos. Here’s one called “bandaids & other temporary healings,” created by Pat Heywood and Jamil McGinnis.
We’re only one month in and many U.S. residents expect major shake-ups as 2025 progresses. Will Google continue to hold all the answers? If not, poets will always be here to help find the words.
Written by Allisonn Church
Writer Bio: Allisonn Church was born in a small rural community to a mother who pinned butterflies in glass cases and hid scarab beetles in her jewelry box. Her first favorite poem was “The Willow Fairy”’ by Cicely Mary Barker. Find a list of Allisonn's published work at churchpoems.wordpress.com.