Letter from the Editor

By Steve Howe

Issue 36 • Fall 2017

Dear Reader,

We intentionally didn’t choose a theme for Issue 36 when we opened submissions back in June. Themes have not been Blue Mesa Review tradition, and we didn’t want to limit the submission pool or the aesthetic of our judges and readers. I hoped a theme would materialize from the collective yet independent minds of the writers, judges, editors, and staff readers, and I feel this has happened.

What has risen from this many months long process of submission to final judging is a portrait of 2017 America. Had I asked our contributors to focus their work on this topic, I don’t think we could have put together a more cohesive collection than what has occurred organically. We have work exploring Latinx identity in white America, police violence, sexual assault, the growth and dissolution of relationships. Our contributors represent the true palette of American society, not the palette envisioned by our current administration. These poems, essays, and short stories tell the truth of who we are; some painful, some funny, all thought provoking and resonant. In a society absent of truth from our leaders, it is the artist who reconnects us with reality. The editors and staff readers of Blue Mesa Review are proud of this issue and we are grateful to our contributors for sharing their words, experience, and perspective. We thank them for telling the truth