PLAN B PRESS Issue Michele A. Belluomini Michele Belluomini was the Winner of the 2004 Plan B Press poetry chapbook contest for Crazy Mary and Others. Michele has deep roots in the Philadelphia poetry community, most recently as one of the coordinators of the Monday Poetry Series held at the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Main Branch.   CRAZY MARY walks as if she might break something walks hardly picking up her feet .......as if .......the sound of the footstep would be too much .......as if .......the pressure of putting her foot down ....... .......would cause trembling uncontrollable and unstoppable she is trembling carrying her steaming heart out into the street she’ll tell you she’s well now but the whine of a passing trolley knifes through contorts her features she claps her hands to her ears .......spitting and cursing in reply still not sure how she got to this cold eastern city still not sure what the terms of exile are she says: .......I can remember the past, but I cannot recall ....... ....... .......the future she says: .......no, that is not what I wanted to say ....... ....... .......I wanted to say, the future behind me is ....... ....... .......the past .......in front .......of me ....... ....... .......yes ....... ....... ....... .......that is what I wanted to say LOOK, HOW BEAUTIFUL HER GARDEN what does she care as soon as she was able, she made her way back to the abandoned city the massive broken skeleton of Chernobyl looming in the background it was quiet and the zinnias and sunflowers grow so large her beets are voluptuous in their purple skins what better way to end her life in her own house .......its little garden looking like something out of a dream under the ruined sun Michele A. Belluomini is a poet and storyteller. Her work has been published in many journals, such as Philadelphia Poets, The FoxChase Review, Big Bridge, and American Poetry Review, as well as in several anthologies, including most recently, Commonwealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania. Her chapbook, Crazy Mary & Others, was published by Plan B Press in 2004. A retired librarian, she helped to coordinate the Monday Poets series at the Free Library of Philadelphia for 15 years.   Published in Volume 11, Number 3, Summer 2010.