Published in Overland Issue 208 Spring 2012 · Main Posts Honesty Tim Thorne Sometimes the voices in your head aren’t telling you the whole truth. Sometimes even your drugs and lovers lie. ‘The best policy’ might well be the one you’ve taken out on someone else’s life. Nightmares and comic strips, old spouses’ tales: fake fur is more honest than blood on snow. Authenticity, New York City, Felicity Kendal are all urban myths. When I was a teacher the really smart kids saw through ‘Hard work brings rewards.’ But then, I’ve always told lies for a living: dole forms, poetry, I once wrote a column for a Murdoch paper. When General Millán-Astray cried ‘Long live death!’ he was sincere. By their fruits … Today a few of these fruits: skulls, a finger, maybe a thousand fragments are ripe of the quarter million who were testament to the general’s truth to himself. They are being picked and by their DNA we know them. Millán-Astray’s wife only revealed after their wedding her wish to remain a virgin. ‘Death to intelligence!’ was his other slogan. We still use ‘clever’ as an insult. Tim Thorne Tim Thorne’s fourteenth and most recent poetry collection is The Unspeak Poems and other verses (Walleah Press, 2014). In 2012 he was awarded the Christopher Brennan Award for his contribution to Australian poetry. More by Tim Thorne › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays First published in Overland Issue 228 5 March 2024 · Main Posts Andrew Charlton’s school assignment Alex McKinnon Australia's Pivot to India exists for three reasons: so that when Andrew Charlton is interviewed on the radio or introduced on Q+A, his bio includes the phrase "he has written a book about Indian-Australian relations"; to fend off accusations that he is another Kristina Keneally engaging in electoral colonialism in western Sydney; and to help the Albanese government strengthen economic and military ties with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. First published in Overland Issue 228 29 February 202429 February 2024 · Cartoons Why won’t they rise? Sam Wallman Sam has an explanation for why wages just won't rise.