At the same time that the number of major commercial publishers in the United States has dwindled to six, the number of programs in creative writing has exploded. Writing conferences, retreats for writers, books about writing, and even private tutorials are growth industries as well. In considering the meaning of these mushrooming programs in a country unapologetically driven by money, "Blue Mesa" editor James Colbert concludes that in the midst of our unprecedented prosperity an enormous number of people feel marginalized or otherwise silenced. ""Blue Mesa No.12,"" he writes, "is the result of our search for those who best give voice to that huge, palpable silence we too often overlook or pretend not to notice." The fiction writers, poets, and essayists whose work appears in this issue address such painful subjects as exile, illness, and death. Among the better known contributors are poets Walter Bargen, Dionisio Martinez, and Virgil Suarez and critic M. Keith Booker.