A Vision Poem by Scott Minar

Herodotus the Greek historian
born in Halicarnassus of the Persian Empire
is waving from the elementary school window,
his beard flowing from a rubber-band over his ears,
a toothy, time-eating grin bursting from his teeth
like the record of human history
displayed one Halloween day
when a few sycamores rang their ears
till they fell and school let out,
the wind talking it up, a rumor about
antithesis and synecdoche—

a few paw prints left on the tee-shirts
of the Archaemenid Empire and a number of Greek city-states.
Poor child! His polyester beard of wisdom
will have to come off. We can see it
roaming on its own down the leaf-scattered streets
tonight like a faceless, windblown epiphany.