SPRING/SUMMER 2026
Two New Othello Poems
Jason Allen-Paisant
Who is Othello? III
And she, in spite of nature,
[…] To fall in love with what she feared to look on!—
Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act I, Scene III.
The myth of her purity—
a white glove
held up to the sun,
thin enough to glow.
What she feared to look on:
not a face,
but a density.
What she feared to look on:
threat
of overpowering,
immersion—
the body,
thick with meaning,
sinking.
Locating black magic in
black skin?—
I’m excited
by this, the way a match is excited
by the strike.
All those accused
of carrying storm-light
in the shoulders,
weather
in the limbs.
All those who live
a half-inch
above themselves,
mistrusting the foot
that lands flat,
the note arriving
ahead of schedule.
Miles once said white musicians
seem to lag
behind the beat.
Not worse. Not better.
But differently.
The misery—
craving the dark
while keeping
gloves on—
an ache
for a sound
never meant to be held—
only traced in the dark
like smoke,
like memory of a heat
the gloved hand
will not endure.
The Uses of Personal Mythology
In this myth, you can rise to the summit of society.
(You—coming from nothing.)
A spectacular rise. A myth unto himself.
But who could cause such a brilliant character to fall?
(You are asking the wrong question.)
Rejoice! Muslim pride/ is buried in the deep./ Ours, and heaven’s, the glory.
(The opening lines from Verdi’s Otello.—What an entrance!)
There was one battlefield on which he was a novice, and that was the battlefield of love.
(Again, you are asking the wrong question.)
Where are the women?
Meaning: his mother. Meaning: the others.
An actor playing Othello: I needed to find motives for this murder.
Clearly he did. Shakespeare didn’t. (Couldn’t.)
Only a career as a mercenary could buy back his freedom.
He has seen and done dark things. Things not easy to talk about.
He would share these things with D. Or he would not.
Death recognises him.
(Still, for Shakespeare, this is not the story.)
The story is: he is black—clearly he can’t control himself.
But you knew this from the beginning.