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 8 September 202315 September 2023 · Main Posts Announcing the 2023 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize ($6500) Editorial Team Supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, and named after the late Neilma Gantner, this prize seeks excellent short fiction of up to 3000 words themed around the notion of ‘travel’; imaginative, creative and literary interpretations are strongly encouraged. This competition is open to all writers, nationally and internationally, at any stage of their writing career. First published in Overland Issue 228 8 September 202326 September 2023 · Main Posts Announcing the 2023 Judith Wright Poetry Prize ($9000) Editorial Team Established in 2007 and supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets seeks poetry by writers who have published no more than one collection of poems under their own name (that is writers who’ve had zero collections published, or one solo collection published). It remains one of the richest prizes for emerging poets, and is open to poets anywhere in the world. In 2023, the major prize is $6000, with a second prize of $2000 and a third prize of $1000. All three winners will be published in Overland.
