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.

I WANT TO MEET THE OWNER OF THE FIRST BOOKSTORE BROUGHT DOWN BY AMAZON

Confession of a UPS Driver

by T. R. Poulson

Amazon opens up Prime delivery service to other retailers in its latest move to compete with FedEx and UPS. —CNBC, April 21, 2022

I want to find a bar on a dark street

with a strange name, tucked in a city

I’ve never visited. I want to meet

the bankrupt bookstore owner, and make witty 

conversation only two passionate lovers

of books would understand. I’d order wine

and tell her I’ve punched gate codes, delivered

books from Amazon to folks off Skyline

Boulevard.  I’d say I’m sorry.  We would joke

about Anne Sexton, Dr. Seuss, and obscure 

heroes, villains. We’d share more wine, poke

fun at Hamlet, digress to Joshua, to a hooker

named Rahab, who once hung a red ribbon   

to save herself when foreigners toppled 

the walls of Jericho. We’d talk about hidden

twists and plots and dialog, hobbled

horses lipping grain from hands. We’d tell

secrets about who fucks whom and for how

much money. At two AM, we’d say farewell.

I’d pay the tab. I’d mingle, flirt, allow

a sleazy drunk to take me home, pretend

that everything he did to me felt good. 

T. R. Poulson, a University of Nevada alum and proud Wolf Pack fan, lives in San Mateo, California.  Her work has appeared in various journals, including Rattle, Mezzo Cammin, Booth, Aethlon: The Journal of Sport Literature, and previously in The New Verse News.  She supports her poetry habit by working as a UPS driver.