for David Welch, after Kate Bernheimer

In the woods the schoolchildren found a dead bear. They retrieved and delivered the bear's largest leg bone to the witch. She wrapped it in a thickening scroll and sold it to the hunter. The hunter hung the scroll bone from a tree to attract more beasts. When the beasts arrived, the hunter was already dead. The beasts, meeting each other for the first time, plucked the scroll bone and dug a hole so they all could sit and pray.