Anita Pulier

One Poet Too Many In the dank underground passagebetween the L train and the 3New Yorkers race East and West. Midway,tattered hand lettered signstaped to cinderblock walls announce: I write poems.I am a NY Times published poet.I will write a poem to order. Crumpled on the ground is the poet,a fortress of ragged clothessurround him as he sleeps. Oblivious commuters rush by,not one wakes him to order a poem. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! The rush hour hordesmove in waves like schools of fish. In the dim tunnel light,to a wounded poet,we may actually seem connected. Zen Curb Appeal Three rangy city pigeonsare bathing in murky waterpooled at the curbnext to a man recliningon a discarded sofa. He has removed his shoes,lined them up neatlyon the cracked pavement,reads a romance novelwith a worn ragged cover. He is still and centered,as though lyingin a grassy fieldby an idyllic lake. The filthy puddle,the splashing birds,the stinking summer garbage,the blaring sirensdo not disturb him. A lifelong expert on impermanence,he knows that each of these intrusionswill disappearwell beforethe final embrace. Anita S. Pulier is a graduate of New York University and New York Law School. After many years of practicing law in New York and New Jersey, Anita served as a U. S. representative for the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom at the United Nations.
Her poems have appeared in online and print journals. Her chapbook Perfect Diet was published in 2011 by Finishing Line Press.