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…
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UNpersoned Podcast
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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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Adieu to 2020Well I think we can all agree that 2020 has been quite the ride (and that’s putting it nicely!) This year has presented everyone — without exception — with challenges ... Read More
Don’t Talk About the ‘Dont Walk’ Sign (Alexandra O’Sullivan)Imagine you live in a world where female is the default gender. Where women own 95% of big business, media companies, and government positions. You study herstory at school, written ... 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.
The Biker King of Contract Bridge <br> (Catherine Harris)(edited by Kathryn Hummel) Andrew Mill is a motorbike-riding, Champion Ruby-smoking Gold Grand Master and contract bridge teacher. He is sixty years old, gets around on a black 2015 Triumph ... Read More
stone beach on kos (Linda Godfrey)echoes smack on a photograph/ show about twelve/ all standing round in their morning/ like our thoughts/ all children have to leave somewhere/ and yet fishponds reflect/ if not actual ... 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.