Emerge Literary Journal: 2026
Welcome to Issue 37, dear readers. As always, we are grateful to meet you on the page. Our fall issues, like the season in which they appear, tend to have a bittersweet quality to them, a gratitude for the past, a tinge of sadness to see it go, and a mysterious, mystical, even whimsical tone, at times, as we all unfold to the changes of the season and of our lives. Down come the leaves—and the veils. We are laid bare—and beautiful.
Issue 37 has magic and humor. Acceptance and loss. And glorious ideas and words. Thank you for joining us. May you find joy and comfort in these stories.
And please welcome Heather Mackay Young in her first issue as poetry editor!
XOXO
Diane
Be Well. Write Well. Read Well.
Poetry
Ruddy Turnstone || John Muro
Two Otters in Autumn Off the Oregon Coast Highway || Melissa L. Sevigny
Diver || Dorothee Sophie Royal
Omen: I’m Not Sure I Believe in Owls || Regina Gort Betances
Michaelmas Again || Fritz Eifrig
A Time Machine & A Once-Believer || Jordan Cobb
to my co-miserable coworker || Najka Altazy
Youth Talent Show, Church Basement || Barry Peters
In Pilates Class || Amy Seife
Monk || Elisabeth von Uhl
Cell D45 || Alison Henderson
If Beauty || Daniel Edward Moore
Routine Breakdown || Kristen Holt-Browning
Revised Bucket List || Christine Yurick
Creative Non-Fiction
West Wind || Sarah Davis
WORDLE || Maria Hardin
Oh, the Places I’ll Virtually Go || Tracie Adams
The Visitor || Jenlyn Voss
Relief || Veronica Vo
A Suitcase Full of Memory || Karen Crawford
The Mare || Marin Smith
Fiction
Angry Birds || Christine H. Chen
Keep Their Voice Close || Maggie Hart
The Value Meal || Vin Berardi
Emma and the Sycamore Moon Tree || Jeremy Giles
The Runaway Mom || Laura Leigh Morris
Honey bee || Ezra Solway
Emerge Literary Journal 