Blue Mesa Review is the literary magazine of the University of New Mexico MFA Program in Creative Writing

We seek to publish outstanding and innovative fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, along with compelling interviews.

Painting of a yellow towel and a white towel hanging from a kitchen bar.

Kitchen Towel
Lucy Ryan

Art

Painting of a chair in the corner of a blue-wallpapered room by a window, with a gemstone border.

DiChristina, Late Afternoon in the Library

Abstract painting with greens, yellows, pinks, oranges, and blues. Stars on left.

The Grand Paradise

Photograph of a zoomed-in cowgirl boot, white and brown, in a stirrup against a brown horse's side, with a leopard-print saddle.

Roger Camp Cowgirl Boot, Tucson

Photo of an abstract structure

Passing Glance 3

Photograph of two cats lounging

Yawp

Photograph of a sculpted bull against a grey background.

Harris_MaverickBrand

Photograph of a mural of a windmill painted on a wall above a yellowed grass field with a cactus.

Camp, Windmill, Texas

Photograph of an empty pool by the water, a cloudy sky above.

Desert Paradise, Shizue Seigel

Abstract art; blue and gold paint poured on linen, streaking out in sunburst from center

Ridgeway_Anatomy_of_Shadows

Photograph of a stained glass piece of a cactus.

Sawmill Cactus

Painting of a yellow towel and a white towel hanging from a kitchen bar.

Ryan, Kitchen Towel

Ryan, Peels

Issue 51
Spring 2025

Painting of a chair in the corner of a blue-wallpapered room by a window, with a gemstone border.

Letters from the Editors

by Gwyneth Henke and Amy Dotson

Fiction

Abstract painting with greens, yellows, pinks, oranges, and blues. Stars on left.

Amore Door

by Ryan Bender-Murphy

12 Parables

by Lucy Weltner

Photograph of a zoomed-in cowgirl boot, white and brown, in a stirrup against a brown horse's side, with a leopard-print saddle.

Sixty Percent Water

by Tarah Knaresboro

Poetry

Photograph of a sculpted bull against a grey background.

Study #2 for cm

by Nico Amador

Photograph of a mural of a windmill painted on a wall above a yellowed grass field with a cactus.

My father’s mouth

by Joe Lozano

Photograph of an empty pool by the water, a cloudy sky above.

The Secret

by EB Ramzi

Abstract art; blue and gold paint poured on linen, streaking out in sunburst from center

I could tell you why I walk like this

by Diem Okoye

Nonfiction

Photo of an abstract structure

Walking

by Kelsey Leach

Photograph of a stained glass piece of a cactus.

Found Grocery List

by Winslow Schmelling

Photograph of two cats lounging

Good Babies

by Kasey Payette

Fiction sign thumbnail

Fiction

Poetry sign thumbnail

Poetry

Creative Nonfiction sign thumbnail

Nonfiction