The Less Deceived (Desdemona) (Poem)

Below is another of my long-ago experimental poems about real and imagined women, published here for the first time.

The Less Deceived

(Desdemona)

And lies in secret plotted pain
Good name they wove with threads of loss
And faith a strand of knots they pulled apart

For she had eyes
and chose him

But he her soul
in object set

       a blush of silk:

            a token spun of maiden heart
            a cloth wrung through with jealous breath

Copyright 1978-2009 Maureen E. Doallas. All Rights Reserved.