Poetry: TRIMMING THE APPLE TREE

The smell of the branch's former life was sweet; the blade quivered as if beneath a spell. The sawdust sparkled as it lightly fell, spinning like motes and landing at my feet.

New Documentary: WASTE LAND

Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage.

Poetry: “Sunlight on the oxbow”

Her seething boils and goitered neck. The bobwhites are silent in their somber, shaded thickets. The darkened ridge above allows sunlight to enter the valley floor, but it only intensifies her sagging eyes and bearded chin. I find no warmth in its rays.There lies a clearing at the heart of this land where a lone oak stands.