Mad has decided to catch a vulture,
the biggest bird she can find.

She is so determined, and so inventive,
that by stringing together a rickety trap
of ropes and sticks, she creates
a puzzling structure that just might
be clever enough to trick a buzzard,
once the trap’s baited with leftover pork
from supper.

Mad and I used to do everything together,
but now I need a project all my own,
so I roam the green fields,
finding bones.

The skull of a wild boar.
The jawbone of a mule.

Older cousins show me
how to shake the mule’s quijada,
to make the blunt teeth
rattle.