Welcome, summer! Sunny days, beach reads, late nights, flourishing gardens, walks in the park, and many wonderful occasions to read poetry.
Though we hope our summer days aren’t cloudy, we’re still spending plenty of time in the digital cloud. In an age of widespread anxiety and unrest, there’s more on our minds than vacation and BBQs and we’re looking to the web for guidance. Here’s a review of June’s trending searches, paired with relevant poems to help us reflect, relax, and think more deeply about this curious life.
Iran
June saw escalating military action between Israel and Iran, with president Donald Trump bringing the U.S. into the mix. The news caused web surfers around the country to google Iran, possibly wondering about the nation’s nuclear capabilities, the conflict’s root cause, or maybe just any updates.
Iran is home to a handful of extremely well-known poets, like Hafez and Rumi. My bookshelf boasts a beautiful, red leatherbound copy of Omar Khayyam’s “The Rubaiyat,” which my father snagged from a local antique bookshop.
Among those killed in recent airstrikes was a young Iranian poet named Parnia Abbasi (2002-2025). I invite you to read Parnia’s poem, “The Extinguished Star.”
2. World War 3
Welp, y’all have been googling World War 3 a lot, so thanks for freaking me out. This reminds me of when Trump was elected the first time in 2016 and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock forward. Here we are again.
There’s no shortage of war poetry to pair with this topic, though I struggled to find any that mentions WW3 specifically. Instead, I thought I’d share “The War in Colors” by Dunya Mikhail. This poem is short but highly effective—an easy read that makes an impact.
3. No Kings Protest
Multiple sources are now reporting that June 14th’s No Kings protest was the largest in U.S. history. Did you attend? I love seeing pictures of creative protest signs after the fact.
Really, nobody could express the sentiment of this moment better than Aileen Cassinetto in her poem, “There are no kings in America.” Hopefully some folks had a chance to read this ahead of the protests, for inspiration. Either way, it’s worth a look now.
4. Spaceballs 2
I was born in 1985, just a touch too young to think Spaceballs was all-the-way-funny when it came out. Bits and pieces worked for me. Still, I knew it was a cult classic and most of my family loved it, so I’m not surprised to learn there’s a reboot in the works. We all need a bit of levity.
I shared space themed poems in a previous round-up, but there are always more: The stars are poetic. My chosen poem for Spaceballs 2 conveys a contrastingly heavy theme (racism), but also includes the phrase, “giggling at me like a laugh track.”
5. Guam
Google was abuzz with news that a fleet of U.S. B-2 stealth bombers were deployed to Guam on June 21st. On June 22nd, I woke up to the news that we’d bombed three Iranian nuclear sites.
A friend of mine uses Guam as a stand-in for “someplace-far-away-from-here.” I don’t know much else about it. When I read “SPAM's carbon footprint” by Craig Santos Perez, I learned that people in Guam consume more SPAM per capita than anywhere else in the world. If you thought you’d never read a hard-hitting poem about SPAM, here’s your reminder to expect the unexpected.
Searching the web keeps us informed, but also on edge. Throughout these long summer days, let’s also remember to search for the sun’s warmth, green leaves, cozy park benches, and cool spots in the shade when we need them.
Written by Allisonn Church
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.