A Tragedy Indeed

And which of them is first to lie?

Is it more important than the “why?”

Iago fumes before a group of future peers,

he has none, who had the very highest’s ears

‘twixt thumb and finger until they slipped

on Othello’s blackface-makeup-mask gripped

not tight enough to the scattered hair.

The king gave no authentic, convincing air

to his impersonation of a man

who would and could and probably can.

There are far better plays than this,

but not for our elected King of Fools,

who learned not a thing at the best of schools

nor expected from his Iago any judas kiss.