Blooming Moons Editor’s Note by Sarah Fathima Mohammed

I’ve been thinking about a question that a poet I love, Bhanu Kapil, poses in her hybrid poetry collection, The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers—How will we begin / How will we live now?  In “Blooming Moons,” 9 young Muslim poets have answered, using poetry to trace their roots and re-envision their futures. Ariana Nazem envisions how we “find hope / in the place between Nowhere and Everywhere.” Aishah Ashfer feels the “chorus of / whispers reverberating through the hollow in my ribs we / all mouth the same verses crafted from divinity.” And surrounded by this closeness and warmth, we ask for more. Aina Marzia writes, “I want to hear my name / I want to hear what my mami named me.” 

I want to thank Kazim Ali, whose anthology of North American Muslim poets, “New Moons,” made me feel held in my artistry and whose immense care made “Blooming Moons” possible for me. I feel grateful for the National Student Poets Program, which has nurtured me and given me the support to create this. Thank you to LA Review and Red Hen Press for believing in this work and giving “Blooming Moons” a home. 

Reader, enter “Blooming Moons.” These young Muslim poets sing something bone-deep and beautiful, a current of their memories, a boundless space where myths, generational histories, and thoughts come together. Here, you’ll find the world Michelle Masood dreams of, a world where we know “what light tastes like,” where “the bees let me hold them / without pain” — a place we can call home. 

Sincerely, 

Sarah Fathima Mohammed

Editor of Blooming Moons and 2021-22 National Student Poet 

The Los Angeles Review is excited to announce that “Blooming Moons” will take over our site for November 2022!