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Lucky Man Update on the eve of my next round of oral chemo
Lucky Man Update on the eve of my next round of oral chemo We are feeling very optimistic that I might be around a few more years, maybe long enough… read more
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Blackout Day is here!
I think this is a good start, and I know there are other days planned, but I have thoughts and questions.First thought, I remember a few years ago folks tried… read more
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An All White America?
An All White America? Trump/Musk & co. wish to erase not only the acclaim of non white people and their accomplishments, but they want to erase them as peoples.If we… read more
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A New Way Forward
The grand plans we had for Better Than the Times have been derailed by my serious illness. I am in a long struggle to stay alive over the next few… read more
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Coffee House
(a lyric micro-essay by Liam Starkey, a writer living in Manchester, United Kingdom) My first memory of coffee is having an espresso scented silver coffee pot as a child. After… read more
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Is it really because we fear the end of democracy?
Is it really because we fear the end of democracy? In the novel I am writing, the protagonist, a preacher of rather progressive and unconventional thought (yes, he is a… read more
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Can I just say, I beleive the next 4 yrs, and even the next 4 weeks are likely to truly be in Nazi Germany territory. I used ot take comfort… read more
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America prides itself in its charities.
America prides itself in its charities. by and large, charities do the work that society should do through taxes, and the best way ot do that is to tax the… read more
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Does America Care?
I see folks saying creators of books and movies tried to warn us. the problem is not literary or movie ignorance. the problem is there are a lot of folks,… read more
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when it comes to immigrants, documented and other wise.
when it comes to immigrants, documented and other wise. here is a little story of a bit of my life in the past year.Last august (2024) we found out i… read more
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Never Again?
Never Again? In 1945, the allies liberated the last of the German Nazi death camps. Three years later, 11 minutes after Israel declared itself a state, Harry S. Truman recognized… read more
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under the radar organizing for the resistance
If you are going to be involved in any sort of resistance activity from peaceful marches to “Luigi” style actions, you would do well to do your organizing off line.… read more
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Today is a great day
for me, for you, for America, for the world. It is not a perfect day. We will probably never live to see that day. Tomorrow may be the beginning of… read more
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Butterflies, Elephants, and X, as in missing
I am still seeing a lot of posts by folks announcing their relocation from Twitter to BlueSky.I will not be moving, though i am happy to see that much of… read more
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I’ve Fallen and my Helper was Deported Because I Voted for a Racist
This is cute, and true, as far as it goes, but when you think that undocumented workers (and most brown and black skinned people in this country are documented), though… read more
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”Kind-washing” the GOP
David Brooks has a new piece out that paints the GOP and its predecessor the Whigs, as the party built on expanding opportunity. Of course another name for Whigs, a… read more
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The Big Five Publishers have Killed Literary Fiction and Nobody Buys Books Anymore
I keep seeing these posts all over social media. First the Big Five can only kill themselves, currently, there are a million titles per year published through the big… read more
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Thanksgiving vs Christmas
Growing up in central Alabama and celebrating in Montgomery and Jackson, Mississippi, we always had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner of at least these things: turkey, dressing, okra, peas (sweet and… read more
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Investing in Ourselves
If we INVESTED in our people with free lunches, single payer health care, no cost higher ed, a housing allowance/ubi, paid family leave (not thru the employer, but as a… read more
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Death Sonnet
hopefully the last of the Dead Poets of the Lyric series: Brenda, her wheelchair shining chrome in thestreetlight, her red hair up in a whisp likecotton candy, her magical yet… read more
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Books, writers readers and sales and who is making a living
In the English language market of the book publishing world there are 4 million new titles published every year, about 75% of these are indie or self-published with the remaining million… read more
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Where the Streetcars Run
through the jungle, on bamboo pilings, cars covered with revolutionary graffiti and an occasional vine, where the farmers ride into the city with chickens and produce to sell children can… read more
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The Dead and Alive List
In the last few days I have seen posts of people honoring Taylor Swifts 35th birthday (Happy Birthday, Taylor) and honoring the memories of people like Nikki Giovanni, the great… read more
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Making Ghosts at the Lyric
It turns out, we all get what we wanted, or at least believed. Me, being an atheist, I will go no further, though this is a bit of an afterlife.… read more
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The First Step towards Dehydration
First you cook a turkey, like you might for Thanksgiving, even it its not. You can make fried corn, peas, cornbread dressing, however, you like, but bake the damn turkey.… read more
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The old man was dead
He shuffled about the station cleaning and sweeping, but moving slow, I asked him and he said, oh, yes, a long while back, I remember it all though somehow I… read more
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Playing chess in the back of the lobby of the Lyric Theater
There was a time we stood on that stage and led and read and looked out over half the young people in Martin County, waiting to have their six minutes… read more
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Books, Writers, Readers, and Sales, and Who is Making a Living?
In the English language market of the book publishing world there are 4 million new titles published every year, about 75% of these are indie or self-published with the remaining… read more
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Dante and other rough beasts
In the middle of our journey we find ourselves with the path lost in dark woods, she sits on a bench and opens a bag of crunchies we packed for… read more
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Someone asked, “What is your favorite library?”
Picking my favorite library is like picking my favorite child. The downtown Montgomery Alabama Library with its four large rooms, one for children, one for non-fiction one for fiction and… read more
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Prepare for Self-Inflicted Wounds
I remember 1980. I remember 2016.I am prepared both for it to be worse than either and for it to be worse than we can imagine. I remember being in… read more
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Open Letter to Paramount+
We dont usually watch American TV, because, to be honest with you, its almost all crap, but as we really like Kathy Bates, and as i am old enough to… read more
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Peace be unto you
My advice to a friend who has decided to become a Muslim because they feel the other religions have failed us in Palestine: All three Abrahamic religions oppose genocide and… read more
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Trade, Aid, and War
I observed with great interest, that though China has a huge military and has shown a willingness to use it, they also have spent over a $ trillion USD on… read more
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Wonderful old manual from the CIA that makes a great workbook for the Resistance
Did you know that the CIA has a declassified field manual detailing the kinds of sabotage an ordinary person can do with lots of plausible deniability? With like, details for… read more
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Not a poem, only a remembrance
Dull Thud The sound of the wooden paddle banging against the flat bottom of the aluminum boat I was told it would scare away the fish, usually by someone older,… read more
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Panacea for Everything
ANTHONY WATKINS – Tallahassee, FL, USA Long time ago, when I was a boy and the interstate system was still being built, every town of any size had a nice… read more
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The Old Dog Lies in the Sun
ANTHONY WATKINS- Tallahassee, FL, USA in the warm grassof this overgrown courtyard.He is the last, as am I,the old lady died and I amleft as the keeper. Not the owner.… read more
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An Interview with Victoria Law
Victoria Law is a freelance journalist and author who covers incarceration. Her books include Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women, Prison By Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular… read more
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The grand plans we had for Better Than the Times have been derailed by my serious illness. I am in a long struggle to stay alive over the next few… read more
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Announcement
To all the wonderful new friends and fans of Better Than The Times: Due to my current and ongoing serious health issues the July 31 publication date will be pushed… read more
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Open for Submissions for July 31
Better Than The Times (https://betterthanthetimes.com/) Is open for submissions year round, but we are approaching the July 31st issue. We don’t have a fixed deadline, but generally by the 15th… read more
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Dear fellow writers,
If you are tired of formatting issues, “name on top left, name on top right, name in subject line, no identifying information on the submission, etc.”, if you are tired… read more
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OUTLAW MLA ADJACENT EVENT
Thoughts from the desk Anthony Watkins, I know it won’t go far in New Orleans, especially on the MLA week, but I would put up $100 sponsorship from Better Than… read more
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Nobody Wants to Work, Anymore
(a continuing series) ANTHONY WATKINS – Socio-economics, Tallahassee, FL, USA Next time you are in a drive thru or a sit down restaurant and the service is slow and maybe… read more
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A Civil Society
ANTHONY WATKINS – Tallahassee, Florida, USA In a world where inhumanity has been the norm for millennia, it is easy to look at one group or person and think they… read more
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Genocide will do it!
ANTHONY WATKINS – Tallahassee, FL, USA This old fart was firmly in the pro-Israeli camp until Oct 8. The mass killing of innocents by the Israeli forces made me reexamine… read more
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Better Than The Times – We Are Live!
Better Than The Times – We Are Live! Betterthanthetimes.com The premier issue features: An interview with and several recent poems by the truly great Rae Armantrout, Several poems by the… read more
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Abounding Freedom
Review – ANTHONY WATKINS – Tallahassee, FL, USA Julien Gracq – translated from French by Alice Yang WORLD POETRY 2024 As a lifelong poet (I started writing poetry before I… read more
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There is Fire in that Coffee Cup
ANTHONY WATKINS – Review, Coffee Cup, Pensacola, FL, USA Its Sunday morning, 10 am. There is a tall lanky guy in his 40s is wiping down tables, bussing dirty dishes… read more
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Three Poems by
STEVE DENEHAN – Kildare, IRE Graffiti It is not the lightsthe buildings, the peoplethat I look atbut the graffition the tunnel wallsthe subway trains really movethe tunnels that contain themmade… read more
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Luddite, a poem
SÉAMUS DUGGAN – Portarlington, Laois, IRE Luddite The boy signed off all services dropped his phone into the river and headed into the mountains where forest reigns. Dressed in clothes… read more
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Four Poems by Marwan Makhoul translated by Raphael Cohen
MARWAN MAKHOUL – Maalot Tarshiha, North District, Israel Marwan Makhoul An Arab at Ben Gurion Airport I’m an Arab! I shouted, at the doorway to departures, short-cutting the woman soldier’s… read more
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Gaza – Bombay Suture
SOPHIA NAZ – Glen Ellen, CA, USA What’s the warp and what the weftRunning through this weaving? -Kabir by the tongue where tomorrowand yesterday are one, call out juxtaposition of… read more
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Three Poems by AMIRAH AL WASSIF
AMIRAH AL WASSIF – Egypt After my dad’s funeral After my dad’s funeral, I wore his clothesI still remember how terrible my relatives and neighbors stared at me.First, they whispered… read more
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Poetry is a Shoebox
ANTHONY WATKINS – Tallahassee, FL, USA Where I keep all the bits and pieces, the left overs, the saved parts the map of how to change the world. Of course… read more
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A Second Look at A Christmas Carol
Political Review – ANTHONY WATKINS – Tallahassee, FL, USA As a youngster growing up in a conservative pro-capitalist home, as I emerged into a more progressive mindset, I thought of… read more
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Poems by Rae Armantrout
RAE ARMANTROUT – California, USA PREPAREDNESS Animals find us eerie.We can see what’s coming in broad strokes– washed out,frequently displaced. Still, it smites us. Like ghosts we pass back and… read more
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Rae Armantrout Interview
INTERVIEW – Better Than The Times Rae Armantrrout Rae Armantrout Interview Questions First, it is an honor to interview you again. The last time, in 2018, you had just published… read more
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The Five Senses
PETER MLADINIC – Hobbs, NM, USA The Five Senses, a review of Resurrection River by Anthony Watkins. The University Press. Oxford Square-on-Thames, Alexandria. 2024. $11.00 paper. The five senses are… read more
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Fine Powder
DENNIS ANDREW S. AGUINALDO – Los Baños, Laguna, PH We wasted baby powder on our young hair.Thus made old, we spoke as grandparents to each other— “Children, gather for a… read more
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Argon, Or A Walking Tour of the Ironlands
ANTHONY WATKINS – Tallahassee, FL, USA Argon lies in the region of middle Europe that has been trampled upon by Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin and its own long line of internal… read more
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When Jesus Walked Across the Mississippi
ANTHONY WATKINS – Tallahassee, FL, USA It was early Juneand the black folkswere steady choppingwith heavy hoes and the heat rolleddown out of the heavenslike a plague from Egyptlandcalluses and… read more
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Sweet Jesus Wading
ANTHONY WATKINS – Tallahassee, FL, USA Through the fallen magnolia leaves in some stranger’s backyard. they look like thousands of brown flat bottomed boats all shuffling to the shore of an imaginary lake. Leaves… read more
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An Interview With Anthony Watkins
ORCHID WATKINS – Interviewer – Tallahassee, FL, USA OW: Please tell us a little about yourself. AW: I live, like winne-the-pooh, in the hundred acre woods. in reality our home… read more
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The Rough [Sentence]
ANTHONY WATKINS – Tallahassee, FL, USA Sketched [on the page]without planing,without the sharp shaving[of the English teacher] Rustic and beautifulmis-tensed knotsand wide grains of wordscurving and crackingunder the stress of… read more
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Shrimp Biscuits
ANTHONY WATKINS – Tallahassee, FL, USA I grew up in the center of football country, between Montgomery and Auburn, Alabama. I played high school football one year, made varsity on… read more
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Workers Are Not Motivated by Money
ANTONY WATKINS – Tallahassee, FL, USA In 2015, I was tasked with saving a company that had operated at a loss for nearly a decade. The ownership had decided to… read more
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Cornell West, The Democratic Party, Trump, Palestine, and an old white man’s coming of awareness.
ANTHONY WATKINS – Tallahassee, FL, USA Many years ago, I enjoyed listening to Cornell talk on various shows. He is truly brilliant, and says what he thinks. But over time,… read more
Better Than The Times 