Dear Friends of eMerge,

Spring is here, blown in between sunny and cold days, as colorful as a child's birthday party and almost as celebratory. We hope you also find yourself awakening and stretching in the sun. What better way to accompany this turn of the globe than with more prose, poems, recipes, and photos hand-selected to accompany this season!

This issue of eMerge hosts some of my favorite features of Spring. Don't miss the colorful birds  all throughout this issue, such as in Francis Hicks "Early Morning". Or another of my favorite features of spring: rain. There's incessant drizzles in Bruce Robinson's series of "Rain Delay" poems and a storm brewing in Caryn-Mirriam Goldberg's "Who Is At The Door Now?" If you'd like a little taste of the joy of singing along to Ray Charles go check out Suzanne McConnell's "What'd I Say?" Or, in Michelle Jones' celebration of "The Color Green" you'll find a few reasons to keep going and growing throughout the many seasons of life.

eMerge continues to blossom thanks to the support of the Board of Directors and the staff at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow. As former residents know, the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow is an incredibly special place that supports and champions writers' of all interests and genres, and has provided the space for so  many books to be conceptualized, written, or edited. And Spring is exactly the Write Time to book a residency, writing retreat, or to sign up for one of the engaging and generative workshops.

As always, a huge thank you to our friends and readers spread all over the map. I so appreciate hearing from you all when something we've published here strikes a meaningful chord or connects with you in some intimate way. So please don't hesitate to reach out via email or social media when you read something you love.

All the best,

Joy Clark