Not One Smoker Has Ever Been Accused of Suicide

By Edward O’Dwyer

I’m convinced of it, but of course I know how it looks,
the oven, the gas, the history of clinical depression.
Incontrovertible evidence shows she’d left her husband,
taken their kids to London to live in a flat once lived in
by W.B. Yeats. But cigarette packets come with
the clear warning ‘Smoking Kills’, and yet
not one smoker has ever been accused of suicide.

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  • Exodus (David Adès)Exodus (David Adès)
    You hold a catacomb of memories. I wait outside your door to catch fragments. How much can any of us know of what preceded? We interrogate doors we cannot pass ... Read More
  • Thou Shalt Not Wank (Ali Whitelock)Thou Shalt Not Wank (Ali Whitelock)
    Artist’s Statement The horrific sex scandals pouring out of Canberra this year (2021) made my blood boil hotter than the planet: the rape allegations, the footage of liberal staffers masturbating ... Read More
UNpersoned Podcast
Tune in to the UNpersoned Podcast where managing editor Michele Seminara unpacks what's happening in the arts and literary scenes with guests from Australia and around the world. 
Watch interviews and social commentary from the Vault.
The Vault
Fiction, poetry, essays, and criticism published in Verity La since 2010.
An archive of writing committed to freedom of expression and resistance to ideological conformity.
  • Pain House (Mie Mortensen)Pain House (Mie Mortensen)
    Bol’ is the Russian word for pain. It is also the first syllable in the Russian word for hospital — bol’nitsa. As opposed to the Latin/Germanic ‘hospital,’ which etymologically speaking ... Read More
  • The Smoke from Burning Bridges (Jennifer Compton)The Smoke from Burning Bridges (Jennifer Compton)
    (Edited by Kathryn Hummel) What did he do after he had pressed his ultimate Send at 1-49 am? Weep, pray, rant? Reach for a bottle? Rush into the street? Lie ... Read More

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Verity La Journal is an independent international literary journal publishing fiction, poetry, visual arts, essays and cultural commentary.

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About Verity La Journal
Verity La Journal is an independent international literary journal publishing fiction, poetry, visual arts, essays and cultural commentary. Join our mailing list to get email updates.

Subscribe now