WHEN OUR ROOKIE QUARTERBACK IS AS FAMOUS AS TOM BRADY, WILL THIS JANUARY 20 MATTER?

by T. R. Poulson

Caleb Williams [at the center of the above] photo received a series of phone calls Monday afternoon [on January 20, 2025] that elicited immediate emotion, followed by a sense of long-term clarity and anticipation. The Bears quarterback's phone rang while he was driving down the highway in Florida. President & CEO Kevin Warren, chairman George H. McCaskey, general manager Ryan Poles and special advisor to the President/CEO and chief administrative officer Ted Crews were on the line. Calling from Halas Hall, the group told the 2024 No. 1 overall pick that Ben Johnson would be the team's new head coach. —Chicago Bears, January 23, 2025

Stocks spike green today and hands hover on Bibles

while I think of football—do glorious days lie

ahead? Fans know something about faith and tribal

loyalty. Consider the Chicago Bears, the ways they

stumble. Fun fact: Caleb Williams, in his rookie

season, played nine straight games without a lazy

or dumb interception. Sometimes you have to look

hard to find stars. Still, faithful fans lit the stands

orange and blue. I dubbed Caleb unlucky

when he fell.  Fun fact: all nine games in that span

without a pick were losses. His line crumbled

around him while he darted among grasping hands.

You keep going, he said. Did he ever fumble

faith? Only a girl who still wears a Walter

Payton jersey would dream of seasons jumbled

with wins. Imagine! Our new head coach will alter

history, make Caleb a legend, make Soldier Field

great again, so great nothing else will matter. 

T. R. Poulson believes the best way to deal with a bully is to ignore him. She's a passionate Bears fan, and was excited about the hiring of Ben Johnson as head coach on inauguration day. Her work has previously appeared in The New Verse News and various publications, including Best New Poets, Gulf Coast, American Literary Review, and Booth.  She is currently seeking a publisher for her first manuscript, tentatively titled At Starvation Falls.

A NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING

by Mary Saracino

Poster by JessicaSabogal for We the People which will flood Washington, DC with NEW symbols of hope on January 20. You can download the set of posters for free at http://bit.ly/wtpdownloads.

I will wear black on January 20
a national day of mourning
while the collective soul of America
lets loose a dirge as an illegitimate president
takes the oath of office
his place secured in history
by fake news, voter suppression
the deception of a foreign dictator
and his own brand of white supremacy
spewed from his bully pulpit of
racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia
and every other kind of –ism the world has ever witnessed

On the next day the women of the world will don
pink pussy hats, take to the streets in cities far and wide
to march in protest, defying the fake king, the tyrant
in the Oval Office
reclaiming their vulva power,  the power to
procreate truth, to name evil, to smash
the glass ceiling of lies that tries to silence us

Mary Saracino is a novelist, poet, and memoir writer who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her most recent novel is Heretics: A Love Story (Pearlsong Press 2014). Her novel, The Singing of Swans (Pearlsong Press 2006) was a 2007 Lambda Literary Awards Finalist. Mary’s short story, "Vicky's Secret," earned the 2007 Glass Woman Prize.