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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Featured Writing
Recent Works
The latest poetry, fiction, essays, art and reviews from Verity La.

The Stone Hookers (Carol Major)
Two years before I ever heard about stone hookers stealing a place away, my mother and I had already been…

In the Hills, On the Shore (Patricia Russo)
In the hills overlooking the sea, she is chopping and stirring. She sends a message in the wind: In half…

Letter to a Reader (Mark Mordue)
Hey You, Can you feel me there – with you still? Way back when. Some presence in your imagining? Or…
Drawing on the Land: Garigal Country (Michael Glasheen)

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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.
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GROWLING COCKATOOS AND HOPEFUL SWASTIKAS: Les Wicks’ Getting By Not Fitting InReview by David Thomas Henry Wright Edited by Robyn Cadwallader Les Wicks’ Getting By Not Fitting In opens with two quotes, one by Mao Tse-tung: ‘All is chaos under the heavens, the ... Read More
Apologies, I forgot you exist (Fleur Beaupert)On the verge of this sheer pink dress fits my childhood fantasy glass slipper | Inside it I’m so brown I’m clear White gold un dress | B(l)onded into celibacy ... 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.
Heimlich Unheimlich (Sieglinde Karl-Spence and Hazel Smith)(To enlarge the images, please enter full-screen mode on your device and zoom in) A Note from Author Hazel Smith These images are extracts from the latter part of ... Read More
Michele Seminara Launches Sara Dowse’s WEST BLOCKBuy West Block online from For Pity Sake Publishing An Except From West Block FROM CASSIE ARMSTRONG’S DIARY 9 December 1977 I took one last look at night. It was ... 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.

