Issue 28: July 2025

by Aubrey Green

My son keeps telling me he's seen lightning bugs (or fireflies), but I haven't seen a single one this year. I've even heard others talk about how they're seeing more this summer than in years past. I'm starting to take it personally. Maybe word got around about my childhood propensity for homemade nightlights. Someone brought up how lightning bugs have a smell, and I'd completely forgotten that until they mentioned it in relation to a jar of the bugs. My brain immediately supplied a ghost of that smell, and the feel of warm cement under my bare feet, a cool breeze blowing wisps of hair into my eyes. The sensations of summers gone by. 

In this issue you will find a short story about another girl's experience with a different kind of bug, and its transformative powers. There's a poem about the monster summer storms that come sweeping down the plains on occasion. A story about a house with a cough that's not really about a house with a cough. And so much more. We hope you find something inside that transforms you, reminds you to appreciate the brevity and wonder of life, and something that makes this moment in time one worth remembering.

Let me know if you see a lightning bug.

And as always, thank you to the many partners, supporters, readers, and writers that keep eMerge Magazine trotting along issue after issue. There are exciting things on the horizon—the winners of the Woody Barlow Poetry Contest, more podcasts, and something brand new—but none of it would be possible without all of you.

Thank you.

Aubrey Green