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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  • You Are Not a Burden (Damien Becker)You Are Not a Burden (Damien Becker)
    You Are Not a Burden (Despite  (the sacrifices   (carers are truly    (held to ransom by     (economic rationalism and      (the right to       (your story as        ... Read More
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    Dedicated to my brothers in Bomana Immigration Prison There is no one left in this world who has not heard your name. Everyone knows your story. We humans are all ... Read More
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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.
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    wax and wane deep in the trench ancient reefs lie submerged — their skeletons remember when the cryosphere stretched taut over continents these drowned cities gleam grey like marcasite — ... Read More
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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.

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