Bamboo Ridge Issue 128

Issue 128 brings together stories and poems that speak to our current moment. Acclaimed poets Naomi Shihab Nye and Cathy Song have curated an anthology shaped by compassion and poetic insight. In their introduction, the editors reflect on the troubling reality that many words once used to celebrate multiculturalism and belonging are now being flagged in grant applications or discouraged in public discourse. This issue becomes, in its own way, a powerful response that values expression, connection, and the literary arts as essential tools of understanding and resistance.Across more than thirty contributors, the writing in Issue 128 is varied in tone; meditative, confrontational, humorous. The collection also features the work of Hawai'i-born visual artist Marc Aquino-Michaels, whose intaglio etchings and aquatint prints complement the issue. In the spirit of Bamboo Ridge's enduring mission, this issue continues a legacy of publishing work that may not find a home in more commercial venues: literature that speaks to hybrid identities, resists easy categorization, and recognizes the local as inseparable from the global. These are works that ask not only where we are, but who we are and what it means to write, read, and remember in a time of shifting language and political erasure. Issue 128 offers a rich and expansive reading experience.