Uncut

“This movie stands stubbornly alone…”
A.O. Scott, reviewing Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life”

A sapling, reaching up, ambitiously
Obscures the Clearview Cinema’s marquee
And ripples green across the title’s rubric.
There’s something there by Hitchcock. Or by Kubrick?
With pink or scarlet flowers it might pose a
Problem, but it’s locust, not mimosa.
Enough is visible for us to see
That we would rather stand and watch the tree.

—Meredith Bergmann