I was moved and felt the need to ‘see’ the poet behind PULSE namely Maria Nazos. Who was the poet to create such sublime and white-hot verse? There are elements of Gaia (earth goddess), Nemesis (goddess of retribution and vengeance) abhorring hubris. There is Lilith (voice and presence of strength and contrary convictions adored by Dante Rossetti naming her hair as “first gold”). There are rich striations of Anita O’Day who wore jackets as a 40’s jazz siren. She would match the swagger of any band leader of her time.
Is this the same poet who held together body and soul as a whale watch boat attendant and barista? Yes . . . and so I found her voice and vision in the thirty-four poems in this formidable collection.

I share my reflections on several of her pieces:
I begin with Oil (p. 38) “As I was pouring a much-needed drink after sampling my spaghetti, ______ told me it could user some olive oil . . . he hands me the oil that I bought from a proselytizing man at the general store.” These words reflect the mundane and the otherworldly nature of this poem. Further “. . . This is Nebraska, where for decades, a Black Panter was imprisoned, and where some recent graffiti reiterates these convictions still exist . . ..” The currency of this poem is often the fracture of truth and indolence, conviction, and hollow tones. Remarkable work indeed.
Woman to Woman (p.63) shares the harsh truth of abuse and misogyny spelled out between women as kindred spirits and pissed off voices rung out of tired and bruised bodies. “. . . There is this thing inside him that won’t stop chewing you, but there’s still time to run before you see what he’s done . . . “The other woman says . . . “Maybe this time, he won’t need to heat every room with rage. Maybe he can change temperature to one that falls below a hungered pitch that propels his fists . . . “The voice of reason may move the voice of self loathing to leave the abuser. The reader waits and does not know the outcome.


Finally, I select Closer to the Light (p.85) The serendipity and crack of cosmic billiard balls that define life giving and life ending circumstances races through this poem. “. . . you may be grieving the absence of a lover fighting overseas or a friend who refuses to die from a disease that singes his edges . . .” The poem continues “Tonight the world is on fire . . . Yet that’s how every hope is born - formed out of heat and pressure. It smoulders and sends up smoke, which we read as saying, Help, and we do . . . “

I highly recommend this collection for any reader who is enthusiastic about poetry and engaged in life. This work provides words that counsel and that plant the seeds of lifelong curiosity.