FALLING FROM GRACE

by Alan Britt

The ironic handkerchief,
Desdemona’s or Othello’s?

Whose irony is it, anyway?

That handkerchief on marionette strings
like some wobbly Saturday morning marionette
with googly eyes and freckles,
possibly of Irish descent?

That handkerchief
was the axis
on which his play revolved.

They didn’t have Renaissance festivals
in Shakespeare’s day.

So, he invented his own diversions,
like handkerchiefs
scented by impossible love
falling from grace.