Iconoclast
May 2025
Iconoclast
May 2025
- Editors’ Note (Verity La Reborn) Issue One: ICONOCLAST
After years of silence, Verity La returns. This is our first issue since the journal’s Managing Editor, Michele Seminara, endured a ... - The Curse of the Man Who Could See the Little Fish at the Bottom of the Ocean (Simon Leys)For Hanfang Since the Beijing massacres, the question has already been put bluntly to me several times: “Why were most ...
- The Skin I’m In (Iona Italia)All my life, I have been accused of having the wrong skin colour. My body’s wrapper—loosening and crinkling slightly around ...
- The Emperor’s Return (Anne Casey)Just one piece—they will never notice he whinnied as he secreted the piece in his pocket just before he ordered ...
- The World’s Longest Daisy Chain (Jenny Lindsay)The first time I was complicit in inflicting public humiliation on someone has left a strong enough impression on me ...
- Desolation Songs (Robbie Coburn)Karma Indiscriminate rain and sunlight. muted light, the room instantly full of bodies — the way they pull up your ...
- Back on ‘Zac (Nina Paley)Why I am returning to my regular dose of Prozac after 2 years of tapering off A few days ago, ...
- Monostich for a time of resistance (Amanda Anastasi)Within the tyrant, a tripped over child. The stuck are full of words. The mirror reveals my first and last ...
- Reading and Writing in Exile (Mammad Aidani)A short philosophical-poetical text I gaze at the mirror, and I say to myself: You were born, There is no ...
- As a Mother (Mandy Sayer)Mrs Vickers was watching the six o’clock news, as she did every night, while sipping a Guinness and lemonade shandy. ...
- Eggs of Freedom (Nina Sanadze)If you’re not a runner, get out of bed the moment you open your eyes. Throw on your ripped jeans ...
- it wasn’t that the yoga teacher shouldn’t have a car (Ali Whitelock)just it was a porsche / & the registration was ...
- Lesbians: the canaries in the mine (Susan Hawthorne)I would suggest that when lesbians become victims of attack, they are a signal. They are the canaries in the ...
- Trust: A Fractured Fable (Jeanne Ryckmans)MARCH 2020, SYDNEY A magistrate finalised an uncontested Apprehended Violence Order for two years against the Irish Professor under the ...
- I am a Palestinian Child (Badaoui El-Hage & Zeina Issa)Seventy years and spring has not yet arrived. For seventy years, our windows and doors brought forth revolt after revolt ...
- Threads of Silent Longing (Hasti Abbasi)Bahar drinks a glass of water. A soft sensation starts to stir inside her. Still within her regular cycle, yet ...
- This Land Is Mine (Nina Paley)Who’s Killing Who? A Viewer’s Guide Early Man This generic “cave man” represents the first human settlers in Israel/Canaan/the ...
- When Feminism Becomes a Tool for Assimilation (Nathalie Martinek)You’re at a women’s empowerment event. Everyone on stage speaks fluently and eloquently. The language is crisp, the tone measured, ...
- Heathpack (Gregory Day)The birds live a parallel existence to us in this place. Their comings and goings. Chords and clusters. Three pelicans ...
- Griftivism (Michele Seminara)My first exposure to what I now call “griftivism,” a hybrid of grifting and Critical Social Justice activism, occurred in ...
- Damnatio Memoriae (Nina Power)Well, the Romans thought they could kill a man every record, after death (you could kill him too) zero He ...
- To Sing of War (Catherine McKinnon)December 1944 1 Lotte Nialu She hears singing: one lone voice at first, clear and resonant, a tenor, then others ...
- THE PASSION OF ANDREI (Nathan Dunne)after A. Tarkovsky I was born of cold hands in the light of the cells. I left the arms of ...
- The False Dissension Over ‘Islamophobia’: an Iranian outlook (Ali Beikzadeh)‘Cultural relativism commands us to see what we call our values as simple prejudices; the beliefs of a particular tribe ...
- Analysis (Yvette Henry Holt)In the Middle of Analysis In the middle of the night in the middle of a shared pandemic I lay ...
- Duende (Magi Gibson)The Girl with Eyes like Dying Stars We sit in Costa, she bristling with the blue hair of her new-found ...
- As Satellites Replace Stars (Joshua Dabelstein)The commodification of the cosmos is having a profound impact on humanity itself On Monday March 3, 2024, at 2:05pm ...
- Lost Within Myself (Mohammad Ali Maleki)Mother, see the dust of my lonely sorrow — I need your prayers; I am drowning in my own swamp. ...
- Only One Son (Magan Magan)Once Mohamed had a dream about his son. The dream kept him up until the early hours of the morning. ...
- Lines on Maps and Foreheads: Three Poems (Paul Mitchell)Ode to dismantle a poetry god I saw you bathing on the roof with all your Greek myths. Medusa was ...
- Rattle up the Road (Siân Darling)Flesh and fat were luxuries of childhood, in that window before starvation was understood. My loose, thickened skin — coloured ...
- The Orchardist (Claire Miranda Roberts)Rigid and bony like an orchard in winter— a single tree can produce forty types of fruit. We can collapse ...
- 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 ...
- Shut Up and We’ll Be Good to You (Koraly Dimitriadis)Shut Up and We’ll Be Good to You Shut up and we’ll be good to you Be good and we’ll ...
- The Leaves (Jacqueline Rule)The morning sky is flat, a smooth grey pebble. There’s a row of trees across from the house where the ...
- Courage (Maxim Bishev)Inspired by ‘Mourn Not the Dead’ by Ralph Chaplin Grieve not the innocent who lie In cobbled cells, Awaiting execution. ...
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- Editors’ Note (Verity La Reborn) Issue One: ICONOCLASTAfter years of silence, Verity La returns. This is our first issue since the journal’s Managing Editor, Michele Seminara, endured a ...
- The Curse of the Man Who Could See the Little Fish at the Bottom of the Ocean (Simon Leys)For Hanfang Since the Beijing massacres, the question has already been put bluntly to me several times: “Why were most ...
- The Skin I’m In (Iona Italia)All my life, I have been accused of having the wrong skin colour. My body’s wrapper—loosening and crinkling slightly around ...
- The Emperor’s Return (Anne Casey)Just one piece—they will never notice he whinnied as he secreted the piece in his pocket just before he ordered ...
- The World’s Longest Daisy Chain (Jenny Lindsay)The first time I was complicit in inflicting public humiliation on someone has left a strong enough impression on me ...
- Desolation Songs (Robbie Coburn)Karma Indiscriminate rain and sunlight. muted light, the room instantly full of bodies — the way they pull up your ...
- Back on ‘Zac (Nina Paley)Why I am returning to my regular dose of Prozac after 2 years of tapering off A few days ago, ...
- Monostich for a time of resistance (Amanda Anastasi)Within the tyrant, a tripped over child. The stuck are full of words. The mirror reveals my first and last ...
- Reading and Writing in Exile (Mammad Aidani)A short philosophical-poetical text I gaze at the mirror, and I say to myself: You were born, There is no ...
- As a Mother (Mandy Sayer)Mrs Vickers was watching the six o’clock news, as she did every night, while sipping a Guinness and lemonade shandy. ...
- Eggs of Freedom (Nina Sanadze)If you’re not a runner, get out of bed the moment you open your eyes. Throw on your ripped jeans ...
- it wasn’t that the yoga teacher shouldn’t have a car (Ali Whitelock)just it was a porsche / & the registration was ...
- Lesbians: the canaries in the mine (Susan Hawthorne)I would suggest that when lesbians become victims of attack, they are a signal. They are the canaries in the ...
- Trust: A Fractured Fable (Jeanne Ryckmans)MARCH 2020, SYDNEY A magistrate finalised an uncontested Apprehended Violence Order for two years against the Irish Professor under the ...
- I am a Palestinian Child (Badaoui El-Hage & Zeina Issa)Seventy years and spring has not yet arrived. For seventy years, our windows and doors brought forth revolt after revolt ...
- Threads of Silent Longing (Hasti Abbasi)Bahar drinks a glass of water. A soft sensation starts to stir inside her. Still within her regular cycle, yet ...
- This Land Is Mine (Nina Paley)Who’s Killing Who? A Viewer’s Guide Early Man This generic “cave man” represents the first human settlers in Israel/Canaan/the ...
- When Feminism Becomes a Tool for Assimilation (Nathalie Martinek)You’re at a women’s empowerment event. Everyone on stage speaks fluently and eloquently. The language is crisp, the tone measured, ...
- Heathpack (Gregory Day)The birds live a parallel existence to us in this place. Their comings and goings. Chords and clusters. Three pelicans ...
- Griftivism (Michele Seminara)My first exposure to what I now call “griftivism,” a hybrid of grifting and Critical Social Justice activism, occurred in ...
- Damnatio Memoriae (Nina Power)Well, the Romans thought they could kill a man every record, after death (you could kill him too) zero He ...
- To Sing of War (Catherine McKinnon)December 1944 1 Lotte Nialu She hears singing: one lone voice at first, clear and resonant, a tenor, then others ...
- THE PASSION OF ANDREI (Nathan Dunne)after A. Tarkovsky I was born of cold hands in the light of the cells. I left the arms of ...
- The False Dissension Over ‘Islamophobia’: an Iranian outlook (Ali Beikzadeh)‘Cultural relativism commands us to see what we call our values as simple prejudices; the beliefs of a particular tribe ...
- Analysis (Yvette Henry Holt)In the Middle of Analysis In the middle of the night in the middle of a shared pandemic I lay ...
- Duende (Magi Gibson)The Girl with Eyes like Dying Stars We sit in Costa, she bristling with the blue hair of her new-found ...
- As Satellites Replace Stars (Joshua Dabelstein)The commodification of the cosmos is having a profound impact on humanity itself On Monday March 3, 2024, at 2:05pm ...
- Lost Within Myself (Mohammad Ali Maleki)Mother, see the dust of my lonely sorrow — I need your prayers; I am drowning in my own swamp. ...
- Only One Son (Magan Magan)Once Mohamed had a dream about his son. The dream kept him up until the early hours of the morning. ...
- Lines on Maps and Foreheads: Three Poems (Paul Mitchell)Ode to dismantle a poetry god I saw you bathing on the roof with all your Greek myths. Medusa was ...
- Rattle up the Road (Siân Darling)Flesh and fat were luxuries of childhood, in that window before starvation was understood. My loose, thickened skin — coloured ...
- The Orchardist (Claire Miranda Roberts)Rigid and bony like an orchard in winter— a single tree can produce forty types of fruit. We can collapse ...
- 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 ...
- Shut Up and We’ll Be Good to You (Koraly Dimitriadis)Shut Up and We’ll Be Good to You Shut up and we’ll be good to you Be good and we’ll ...
- The Leaves (Jacqueline Rule)The morning sky is flat, a smooth grey pebble. There’s a row of trees across from the house where the ...
- Courage (Maxim Bishev)Inspired by ‘Mourn Not the Dead’ by Ralph Chaplin Grieve not the innocent who lie In cobbled cells, Awaiting execution. ...
The Australian literary scene and beyond is under attack. Tune in to our podcast, where poets Magan Magan and Michele Seminara explore the hostile nature of woke ideology and its attack on freedom of expression in the arts.
Tune in to the UNpersoned Podcast where editor Michele Seminara unpacks what's happening in the arts and literary scenes with guests from Australia and around the world.
The Vault
Gross National Happiness (David Thomas Henry Wright)(edited by Kathryn Hummel) The plane takes off, confirming the entire row of seats is yours. All yours. Closest you’ll come to owning property. ... Read More
26 Outings1. Friday evening, as my husband and I are getting ready for bed, I tell him I think I’ve fallen for a girl. That night we have passionate ‘I can’t ... Read More- OCHRE LINES: Us Mob Writing (Kerry Reed-Gilbert, Samantha Faulkner and Lisa Fuller)(edited by Phillip Hall) Through the looking glass by Kerry Reed Gilbert Creation surrounds me As I walk upon hallowed land Red dirt claims me The sun burns brightly on ... Read More
- Sarah T (Liam Ferney)I bring you back Cathay. That’s what Cathy says off the plane from Denpasar. A bottle of Piper on my bed waiting for you while you outwait an Operations Manager’s ... Read More
First Kiss (Trixi Rosa)My first kiss was framed by rusty corrugated iron walls and wonky wooden fences. It was sung by earth shattering sounds of passing cement-tankers. The crown of my head melting ... Read More
The Vault
- Poems by Juan Garrido-Salgado and Ariel Riveros Pavez(edited by Ramon Loyola) Changing Places to Sleep Not for Political / Security Reasons After the Reading at Sappho Last Night By Juan Garrido-Salgado To Beth Spencer and Claudia Taranto ... Read More
Fantasy (Murtaza Ali)Artist’s Statement I was born in Mariabad Quetta, province of Balochistan, Southwestern Pakistan. Growing up surrounded by art centers, the smell of oil paint would be invaluable later in life ... Read More- Deadspeak (Jennifer Liston)Deadspeak Lycanthrope It’s that time of the month again: time to open the lowest drawer of the dustiest dresser. Sit awhile. Gaze at gauze enfolding precious. Peel it back, fingers ... Read More
- I am a Palestinian Child (Badaoui El-Hage & Zeina Issa)Seventy years and spring has not yet arrived. For seventy years, our windows and doors brought forth revolt after revolt and we churned the tune of every song into an ... Read More
VERITY LA POETRY PODCAST Episode 6: Melinda SmithMELINDA SMITH: In this edition of the Verity La Poetry Podcast, Podcast Producer Alice Allan and Managing Editor Michele Seminara chat with Melinda Smith about her new book, Goodbye Cruel, just ... Read More
