Each man lives beneath a tree and during the winter covers the tree with
waterproof white felt, which he removes for the summer.
— Herodotus
flying over the region during winter I note the white-capped trees
in the country of the Argippaioi, & under each tree a man
(though I alter the text to say “a woman”), I imagine her, all
winter licking black fluid drained from the fruit of the pontikon tree
Herodotus is not to be believed but to be entertained by
the fabulous tale about winged serpents who build nests of cinnamon
stalks & cinnamon traders who chop animals into large pieces
onto the forest floor, whence the serpents carry the chunks to their nests
where the weight causes the nests to fall to the earth, where traders gather
cinnamon stalks & carry them off to far lands to exchange for gold
as for the Issedones, their women share power equally with
their men — who believes that? & they feast on their fathers’ dead bodies
plus griffins & one-eyed men, yet what’s most incredible are the wars
wars & more wars, kings & sons of kings & malcontents & deceivers
beheadings, impalings, hangings & stranglings, sacrifices, exiles
but Herodotus does not tell all, he sometimes chooses to forget