Line the bulwarks and ready the defenses. Cast a warding spell of sanctuary deep in the heart of the woods. Hold your arms around each other and nestle in tight together for “Protection,” the October theme of Wild Greens.
Maggie Topel’s digital logo combines a medieval-style shield with the Wild Greens “WG” as the crest of arms. Ngonidzashe Mhizha’s short story “The Last Dragon Fang Guardian” transports us to a fantasy realm of sword and sorcery. “Queen of Hot to Go,” a digital illustration by Ivona Mitankina, depicts Chappell Roan in tarot.
Angela Patera’s watercolor “Daisy Wheel” paints a protective symbol against deforestation and pollution. Inspired by the author’s time as an anthropologist and archeologist, Ron Wetherington’s creative nonfiction piece “Oracle Bones” explores ritual items from the past. “New Zealand,” a photograph by D C Nobes, captures leafy ferns that form a protective barrier over a sheer rock face.
Tanja Lau’s poem “First Aid Manual of Me” offers instructions for how to care for her in crisis. Melissa Lomax’s watercolor and wax oil pastel “Woodland Exploration” depicts the color and diversity of a woodland scene, and her ink and digital color painting on wood introduces us to “Thumbbodies Pine Friend and Thumbbodies Acorn Friend.”
Lauren Kimball’s essay with illustrations, “How to Install a Car Seat Like a Pro,” details the trials of a mother protecting her children. A hungry baby birds await their mother and food in Hayley J. Boyle’s watercolor cover, "No Peeping," reprised from the April 2023 issue of Wild Greens.
As we grow wild into our brightest selves, we protect each other—sharing our art, our creativity, our vision, sheltering that creative spark and encouraging it to shine.
-Rebecca
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by Maggie Topel
Digital drawing
Inspiration: For the theme of "Protection," I depicted a medieval-style shield with Wild Greens heraldry surrounded by a couple of thematic plants. I actually got a new book to help with Wild Greens! So instead of consulting the Farmers Almanac website like I used to, I consulted a book called The Language and Sentiment of Flowers by James D. McCabe. The plants listed to mean protection were juniper and bearded crepis. There are a few varieties of juniper, but I picked this type that is very thorny and spiky looking. I felt it added to a feeling of protection, like a dangerous plant that could keep people away.
by Ngonidzashe Mhizha
The soil was caked with dry blood, and the carnage was gruesome. I could have protected the innocent, but something beyond my wish and sympathy restrained me. Vultures circled in the sky while wild dogs buried their heads inside corpses, their fur smeared with crimson. Stench of burned human flesh and blood filled the air. I crawled beneath a heap of cadavers, staggered and tripped repeatedly before I regained balance.
My wounds took longer than usual to heal. I sat with my back resting on a rock splattered with blood and closed my eyes. It’s been long since I had visions. Some came in fragments, some blurry. My purpose was fulfilled, so I had to embrace these changes with honor. This was the reason I stayed incognito amongst the Kayamor people. The reason I couldn’t expose myself when the kingdom was massacred.
Suddenly my gift of vision transported me to a certain courtyard in a whim. Armed men were assembled before a man, supposedly a leader. He was fuming with so much fury, pacing restlessly back and forth. Another man arrived carrying a clay pot that was coughing smoke and seemed to be performing a ritual. He waved it in the air in circular motions then put it down. He stretched his hands up to the skies, shouting incantations in a strange language:
“Hishnar verdat peonid canrosa sumov.”
When I took a closer look at the leader, I recognized him at once. King Damoen, often referred to as the Death Angel. He was a ruthless, malevolent sorcerer who had been hunting my bloodline for years. His desire was to possess our greatest magical heirloom.
He raised his hand in command as he stepped forward.
“We all have heard the tragedy that had befallen the Kayamor kingdom. That can possibly be a lead to the dragon fang quest. We are riding there now!”
Soldiers bowed their heads in unison.
The vision snapped away and I was back looking at the corpses. The Death Angel knew I was at Kayamor. I had to escape before his claws clung unto my pendant.
I shifted into my other form and soared in the sky heading home. The rush of wind through my feathers reminded me of my days when my power was unvanquished. Now I was fleeing like a coward because I was determined for my bloodline’s welfare.
Suddenly I was home. The two gargoyles seated atop an entrance of the ancient castle seemed to frown down at me. Their stiff bodies were now covered with thick green moss, especially their arched wings. As guardians of the Torakem coven, they had fought numerous malevolent magic from infiltrating the castle. The creatures above me exhaled, their breath enveloping me in a windstorm of magical ripples and swirls. A heartfelt welcome I’d never anticipated. My moments outside the castle were over.
The brightest of the golden sunshine embraced me upon entering the courtyard. My skin tingled with an otherworldly warmth. The air was a mixture of incense, herbs, moisture, oils. Fiyardo, my wife rushed to me. Her thin arms adorned with amulets delicately held the front of her long robe to avoid tripping over. She fell into my arms and hid her face onto my shoulder. Soft sobs felt like petals falling into a tranquil pond as they faded into the fabric of my tunic.
“You have made it,” she whispered, looking into my eyes, her own almond shaped glistening with tears.
Our bloodline was gifted with pure magical powers that passed down through generations. Our greatest possession was the Pirdeva Sword. Numerous bloodthirsty sorcerers pursued it due to its magical abilities. However, their intentions were shrouded in evil. In order to protect the heirloom, our ancestors combined their magic together. They cast spells on its hilt and carved out its center part, engraved with the dragon fang. From it, they made a key worn around the neck like a precious pendant.
Prophecies about the bearers of the dragon fang were made, and chosen ones were gifted with distinct magical powers. These enabled them to protect it. As for me, I was a seer, a warrior, a shapeshifter and I was gifted with immortality for stipulated centuries.
Fiyardo accompanied me to the sacred chambers where the council awaited. It was time to surrender the key to the coven elders. I was welcomed with reviving incense. Soothing harmonies from flutes and lyres made flames in the hearth dance in accordance. Their shadows wiggled in resonance and I felt the corners of my mouth lifting.
We sat on our reserved places and held hands. My wife looked at me and smiled. We lifted chalices and drank wine that felt heavenly on my tongue.
After centuries, the dragon fang was now to be bestowed upon my predecessor. Hers or his identity was unknown till the moment we all awaited.
I fished out the pendant from my neck, walked to the dais and knelt before the altar. I laid down the souvenir neatly, recalling the moments we shared. As I bid my companion goodbye, a single tear fell from my eye and landed on the dragon fang pendant. The moment it touched the pendant, it illuminated a blinding glow and floated in the air. Mouths went agape and brows arched as we watched it dim slowly and fall down.
“Behold, the last guardian of the dragon fang!”
A voice echoed from the shadows. Suddenly Lord Giser, our coven leader and our greatest wizard, emerged, his purple robes sweeping the floor whimsically. A crescent moon-like silver crown sat neatly on his grey hair. He raised his magical staff and laid it on my shoulder and I instantly felt revived. When I looked back, Fiyardo’s shoulders now shook as her sobs intensified. It was something we all never anticipated. We had one last enemy to destroy, the Death Angel. After that, the legend of our guardianship had just begun.
by Ivona Mitankina
Adobe Fresco
Inspiration: Chappell Roan as the Queen of Pentacles represents the way music can protect us, offering comfort, strength, and a space where we feel safe.
by Angela Patera
Watercolor, aquarelle paper
Inspiration: The symbol on the rock in the foreground is a hexafoil, or daisy wheel. It's a protective symbol, intended to ward off evil spirits. The meaning of this painting is that forests are sacred and should be protected from evil and negative energies, as well as from harm caused by humans, for example, deforestation and pollution.
by Ron Wetherington
The old man uses a stick to pick over the bones in the cooling embers. He levers the edge of one and flicks it out of the coals onto the hearthstone. Then another. He gingerly picks one up, examines it, turning it over in his hand. He uses his thumb to wipe away the ash that partially obscures its surface. A look of dissatisfaction briefly sweeps across his face as he turns it over. He taps it lightly with the back of his fingernail, the clipped sound breaking the silence. He casts it aside and retrieves the second bone, repeating the gestures, holding it closer. Tap-tap-tap. He explores the surfaces, deft fingers rotating it slowly.
Here is a message he can read. He nods. The rejected one carried unclear markings. Not this one. It’s not easy. He looks up at the expectant faces of the three boys seated across the fire. You have to be careful. Misreading the message is sometimes the greater risk. And then what? The hunt would be unsuccessful, of course, but more critically the entire connection would be broken, protection lost.
This is their universe, you see. The encompassed stars are caught in these fractures. The streams and rockfalls are briefly captive here. The animals and forest. Most importantly, the human condition is defined here, and all of tomorrow’s intersections are revealed in the tiny fissures.
This charted world, laid out in a message on the burned shoulder blade of a deer, will be revealed cautiously. The young boys must receive the proper knowledge. This preparation for tomorrow’s hunt gives more than just instructions: it establishes proper conditions. You don’t just slog out like you’re on a scavenger hunt; you are part of an enterprise of reciprocity that must be reckoned with.
❦
We fail to notice this, whose forest dwelling is asphalt and steel. We are masters here, where environmental reciprocity is alien, the human condition measured by our independence from nature. Not our fault, really. We chose this way innocently. We’re now far removed from that protected, enchanted world.
We are born charmed, still, of course, but forbid it to remain beyond the early years of fairytales and myth-making. Our separation is prideful, not reluctant; victorious, not regretful.
So their cosmos is no longer ours, our lives no longer caught up in the ebb and flow of whispered possibilities and virtuous magic. We cannot return to that place, even with the growing need to do so, because we are over-baggaged.
Assuredly, we will still make up fables and act wistful in short episodes. For our children. And that may have to be enough.
❦
Cross-legged beside the dying fire, the shaman begins the ceremony, chanting rhythmically, thumping on a small skin drum. He has tossed a sprig of juniper and some wild Artemisia onto the smoldering remnants, and the smoke carries their essence into an awakening spirit world. Together with the drum’s staccato resonance, a hypnotic mood arises, and the preparation for tomorrow has begun.
by D C Nobes
Photograph
Inspiration: When I think of Enchanted Places (forests or otherwise) and places that lie under some protective spell, I think of intertwined branches of mountain beeches that line the mountain passes of New Zealand. I think of abandoned urban spaces where Nature has returned to reclaim its territory, now overgrown like fairy tale thorny hedges. I imagine waterfalls made of leafy ferns instead of water. My images try to capture those imaginings.
“Cascading Ferns, Matheson, West Coast, New Zealand” is of a sheer rock face covered in leafy ferns, for which New Zealand is justifiably famous.
by Melissa Lomax
Watercolor, wax oil pastel
Inspiration: Over the summer, I took some time to experiment with various mediums and loved playing with different watercolor brushstrokes. An element of texture was achieved by applying wax oil pastel on bare cold-press paper or mingling it with paint for a softer effect. I like to think these woods are a safe place to experience new adventures and possibilities.
by Melissa Lomax
Ink with digital color on wood
Inspiration: "Thumbbodies” are tiny, magical creatures that live all over the world in hidden and sometimes unexpected places. They enjoy secretly making small positive differences in our lives. These two Thumbbodies live peacefully within the forest among their family and friends. Together they take part in caring for the animals and plants in the surrounding woodlands.
by Lauren Kimball
It’s 8am on a Friday and it’s time to move the car seats again. In addition to all the usual reasons why a person would need to uninstall and then reinstall car seats, we’ve been having car problems. We’ve been shuffling the seats between family vehicles all summer, and that time has come again.
I don’t even ask. I know the job is mine.
I swap out the Bluey PJ bottoms I bought on a whim at Target earlier in the summer for some practical no-nonsense attire. I push my hair back into a high pony tail. It looks like I’m about to go for a run, but I’m not. I’m installing car seats. And as any veteran installer would know, the last thing a person needs when she’s straddling those boxy monsters is a stray hair getting in her sweaty miserable face.
I have my mug of tea, which I timed to be hot and ready for this exact moment. But where will I put it? On top of the car? That seems like a porcelain disaster waiting to happen, so I decide on the sidewalk.
I’m the designated car seat installer in our house, a position I was gifted because I gave my husband too much feedback. I care more about things being done right, which turns out to be an excellent quality if you’d like to install car seats for the rest of your life.
There’s a lot that could go wrong, but I’m no beginner. I hoist those bulky demons out of the back seat of Useless Vehicle Numero Uno. Then I line them up on the sidewalk next to my tea and roll them like nightmarish cradles, sifting the ancient, sticky crumbs out from beneath the inner folds.
I wonder which urban animal will get to have them. I imagine the crows, ants, squirrels, and skunk all rejecting my sons’ stale leavings one by one. I just know I’ll be walking past the hardened, dried bits of milk-and-lollipop-encrusted cheerios again tomorrow morning. My sons are an environmental hazard.
I inspect my work. Things are looking pretty good. I congratulate myself that I’m halfway done and it’s only 8:15. I’m so good at this.
I eye Vehicle Two. It’s on a hill, which isn’t ideal if you don’t want to live with the nagging feeling that your kids’ car seats could be more level if you had only taken the time. I sure don’t, so I move two cars to get this one on flat ground. Ready.
I stoke my confidence by tackling the easier car seat first: the younger kid’s seat, which will face the rear of the car. Kids are supposedly safer that way, but there are also less options for tethering, so it all evens out.
Besides the seat belt, the other tethering option is a buckle that anchors the car seat to tiny metal bars hidden in the fold of the bench on either side. It’s an important backup in case your one-to-four-year-old were to suddenly develop the brazenness, motor planning, and thumb strength to depress the belt. The problem is, someone (I won’t say who, but it was my husband) left it a tight, twisted mess. Nothing some patience can’t fix. I gently wiggle the strap back and forth, coaxing it to feed through the buckle where it’s currently jammed up. Leave it to men to get frustrated and start pulling, thinking they can bend things to their will with brute strength. I saw a reel once with the caption, “How many men does it take to put a stroller in a car?” A dad fiddles with a stroller, trying to get it to collapse. A man passing by sees him and comes over to help. Then another man. At a high point, someone starts banging and slamming the car seat on the sidewalk. It doesn’t budge. Then a woman glides over, presses a button, and the whole thing folds like paper.
The damn belt hasn’t moved a centimeter. For a moment I seriously consider that maybe I could give it one strong yank and see what happens. Then I snap out of it. No. I can’t let the patriarchy and car-seat oppressors win. I won’t cede this moral high ground. It’s all I have.
*
At 8:40 I’m installing Car Seat Two and resenting my mother, who I unfortunately witnessed discover yet a fifth way to tether the front-facing seat. So of course I have to do it, too. It involves depressing the seat with one knee—shifting all of your weight onto it—and pulling the straps as tight as they will go, then jamming a red brace across it. The car is smaller than others I’ve worked with and I really enjoy stuffing myself into that position like a soft pretzel in tupper ware.
At 8:55 I slink back inside and declare to my husband and children, “We’re never moving those car seats again!” No one cares and of course next week a grandmother needs to pick up one of the kids from school and I’m at it all over again.
by Hayley J. Boyle
Watercolor
If you like the issue, you can donate to Wild Greens through our Ko-fi page!
Maggie Topel (she/her) is an artist and writer living in Philadelphia. She designs our seasonal Wild Greens logos and social media avatar.
Ngonidzashe Mhizha is a Zimbabwean aspiring poet and short story writer. Her published work is found on www.1sail1art.org. She was nominated for the 2025 Pushcart Prize by The Sailors Review. She loves photography, especially capturing landscapes at dawn and sunset.
Ivona Mitankina is an illustrator from Serbia, currently living in Vratsa, Bulgaria. With a background in costume design, she brings a strong sense of narrative and atmosphere into her artwork. Ivona illustrates children’s books and creates personal projects inspired by everyday rituals, travel, and the quiet beauty of human connection. She is passionate about expanding into editorial illustration, where her warm, textural style can capture both nostalgia and contemporary stories
Angela Patera is a published writer, artist, and poet. Her short stories and poems have appeared in publications such as Livina Press, Myth & Lore Zine, Rill and Grove Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. Her art has appeared in numerous publications, as well as on the cover of Small Wonders Magazine, Indie Bites Magazine, The Ophelia Gazette, and a few more. When Angela isn't creating, she likes to spend time outside in nature.
You can find her on both Instagram and Twitter/X @angela_art13
Ron Wetherington is a retired professor of anthropology living in Dallas, Texas. He has published a novel, Kiva (Sunstone Press), and numerous short fiction pieces in this second career. He also enjoys writing creative non-fiction. Read some of his work at www.rwetheri.com
D. C. Nobes, a Canadian New Zealander, is a physicist, poet, and photographer who, aside from 2 years on Vancouver Island, spent his first 39 years in or near Toronto, Canada, then 23 years based in Christchurch, New Zealand, 4 years in China, and has since retired to Bali. He used to enjoy winter but admits that he doesn’t miss the snow or the cold. He thinks almost all poetry is meant to be read aloud. His poetry and art photographs have been widely published.
Tanja is a Swiss-based poet and writer with German-Italian roots. A highly sensitive observer and mother of two, she explores life’s complexity with vulnerability and a hint of humor. She studied comparative literature before venturing into entrepreneurship. Her first children’s book is scheduled for publication in 2026, and several of her poems have been published in international anthologies. Her writing can also be found on Instagram @tanias.butterflies and on Substack at taniasbutterflies.substack.com
Melissa Lomax (she/her) is a freelance illustrator, writer, and cartoonist, with 20 years of experience in the creative industry. Some of her clients include American Greetings, Sellers Publishing, Great Arrow Graphics, Lenox Corporation, and Highlights for Children. Her comic 'Doodle Town' posts on GoComics.com, the largest catalog of syndicated cartoons and comics. When she is not in the art studio, she enjoys spending time in nature, drinking really good coffee, and 'everyday adventures' with her husband. Pop by her Instagram @melissalomaxart for weekly inspiration!
Lauren Kimball (she/her) lives in Philadelphia. She teaches literature and composition at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. In her spare time, she plays with paint, digital pens, words, and home improvement tools.
You can find her comics on Instagram @turtle_n_hare_comic.
Tim Brey (he/him) is a jazz pianist living in Philadelphia. He holds positions as Artist-in-Residence and Adjunct Faculty at Temple University and West Chester University, where he teaches jazz piano, music theory, and improvisation. Check out more of his music and his performance schedule at https://www.timbreymusic.com.
Jessica Doble (she/her) holds a PhD in English from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She's published two critical works: “Hope in the Apocalypse: Narrative Perspective as Negotiation of Structural Crises in Salvage the Bones” in Xavier Review, and “Two-Sides of the Same Witchy Coin: Re-examining Belief in Witches through Jeannette Winterson’s The Daylight Gate” in All About Monsters. Her poetry has appeared in PubLab and Wild Greens magazine.
Myra Chappius (she/her) is the author of six works of fiction and poetry. While her passion lies with shorter creations, it is her aspiration to complete a full-length novel and screenplay someday. She enjoys reading, tennis, cinema, live music, and seeing the world. When not doing mom things, she is working full-time, learning yet another language, and planning her next adventure.
Her work can be purchased on Amazon.
Jacqueline (she/her) edits fiction and nonfiction as the senior editor for Wild Greens magazine. She earned her BA in English and creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, and completed training as a 2021 publishing fellow with the Los Angeles Review of Books. She previously served as a co-editor for PubLab, editor for UCR's Mosaic Art and Literary Journal, and as an intern with Soho Press. In her free time, she loves to read all kinds of stories, including YA, literary fiction, sci-fi, and fantasy.
Hayley (she/her) creates the cover image for every issue of Wild Greens and serves as the Arts Editor. Hayley is a social justice seeker, world traveler, rock climber, dog snuggler, frisbee player, event planner, and storyteller. She loves to paint with watercolors, embroider, and write. She grew up reading sci-fi and fantasy, and, to this day, she still turns to those genres to help her make sense of the world. She calls Philadelphia home where she lives with her husband Evan and dog Birdie, and she wouldn't have it any other way. You can find Hayley on Instagram @hayley3390.
Rebecca Lipperini (she/her) is a writer, teacher, and academic living in Philadelphia, and the founding editor of Wild Greens magazine. She holds a PhD in English from Rutgers University, where she taught all kinds of classes on literature and poetry and writing, and wrote all kinds of papers on the same. Her essay on the soothing aesthetics of the supermarket was recently published in PubLab. She teaches in the Critical Writing Program at the University of Pennsylvania.
You can find Rebecca on Instagram @rebeccalipperini (personal) @wildgreensmag (you already know it).