Wild Greens - October 2024 (IV.xii)

Volume 4, Issue xii

Hypothetical

Wild Greens 4, no. 12 (October 2024)

Hypothetical

Welcome to the October 2024 issue of Wild Greens

October marks the end of a volume at Wild Greens: for us, it’s the last month of the year. We often close our volumes with a more obviously Halloween-themed issue—although “Hypothetical” may not seem scary, I think those what-ifs can really haunt us at night. Without proper protection, we get stuck travelling down paths of alternative lives and regrets, wishing for do-overs. The works selected for this issue embrace the other side of that door: not the scary haunting of regret, but the alluring daydream of the elsewise.

“In My Other Life,” a poem by Suzy Harris, imagines the many other selves that could have been.

Maggie Topel’s “Hypothetical” logo for the issue depicts the Wild Greens logo over a “true blue” dahlia, a color yet to be seen in the flower.

In “Just a Coin Toss,” a short story by Mariah Harned, the narrator makes a reality-splitter app to help ease her decision-making process.

“Follow Your Heart,” the first of two works of digital art by Melissa Lomax, illustrates the feeling of listening to your inner voice. “The Pumpkin Passage,” her second work in the issue follows a portal into a delightful Halloween-world.

D A Angelo’s poem “Waking the Botanist” explores the possibilities of another life for the poet. “Dream 1” and “Dream 2,” in collage by Irina Tall, envision home as a magic place.

Joan E. Bauer’s poem, “Sunday Afternoon with Fibonacci,” connects the history of mathematics, evolution, and nature with a sense of wonder at the unknown.

What if our “what ifs” aren’t limited to the page? What if with a magic spell we could make our beguiling daydreams our todays?

-Rebecca

Wild Greens 4, no. 12 (October 2024)

Welcome to the October 2024 issue of Wild Greens

Table of Contents

In My Other Life

Wild Greens: Hypothetical (October 2024)

Sunday Afternoon with Fibonacci

Artists and Contributors

Support Wild Greens through our Ko-fi page!

In My Other Life

by Suzy Harris

I am mending a fence, leading the sheep across a bridge and up a hill, feeding
twin pygmy goats, black and white harlequin patterns on their small flanks. I am playing
a waltz on a violin, flourishing the bow. I know how to fix a dripping
tap, a wonky outlet, a stuck drawer.In my other life, I ask my parents
all the questions that come to me, too late, and I remember their answers. In my
other life, I wake each morning as if it is the first, last, only. I am
one who studies clouds, and one who gets lost in them. I am the willow bending low
with grace, and that protected spaceunder its arched branches.

Wild Greens: Hypothetical (October 2024)

by Maggie Topel

Digital drawing

Inspiration: For "Hypothetical," I was inspired by something I saw on the website for the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. I was looking through the different types of gardens they had, and I was particularly interested in their dahlia garden, because I think dahlias are so beautiful! In the description of their dahlia garden, they noted that their varieties "represent virtually every color of the rainbow (except true blue which, despite a £1,000 reward first offerent in England in 1826, is a color yet to be achieved)." How intriguing! The mysterious and elusive blue dahlia... Since the dahlia is one of my favorite flowers, and blue is my favorite color, I thought it would be fun to imagine the hypothetical true blue dahlia for this month's logo.

Just a Coin Toss

by Mariah Harned

My friends tell me that I should just pick one. They insist that such minor decisions don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I’m not convinced. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I’ve finally narrowed it down to oatmeal loaded with berries or a hearty meal of bacon and eggs, but now I’m stuck.

I step back from my pantry with a sigh, pick up my cell phone, and open my newly invented reality-splitter app that’s connected to a machine in the basement. Time to find out if my latest “contraption,” as my friends call it, is in working order yet. When I touch the button, it’s clear that something is happening as the world spins around me, up blending with down, left smashing into right. My vision turns into a series of shooting stars across a black sky. It feels as if someone is shoving me. I step backward to catch my balance, and my vision clears.

I stare at the familiar stranger standing in front of me. It’s like I’m looking in a mirror. Then the other me frowns.

“Well, who gets oatmeal and who gets bacon and eggs?”

I pause to process what the other me has said. This I did not anticipate. How do I still have to decide what to eat for breakfast? I shake my head in confusion. What am I talking about? It’s the exact same outcome, no matter which of us eats what. Then why is it so hard to make the decision? “I guess we could flip a coin. Do you want to be heads or tails?”

“I don’t know. Give me the coin, and I’ll find out.” One of me tosses the coin in the air and catches it. “Looks like I’m heads.” Heads-me hands the coin to Tails-me. “Do the honors.”

Tails-me shrugs. “Let’s see… who’s eating oatmeal?” The coin lands tails-up. “Looks like I am. Have fun frying that bacon and eggs.”

Heads-me scowls at Tails-me’s smirk. We both know I hate oil splattering on me as much as I love eating bacon. But I set a small frying pan on the back burner and pour a little olive oil in it for the eggs. I find my hand covered in oil when I screw the lid back on top. Must be leaking. I put the oil away before turning on the burner and whirling to the refrigerator.

“Excuse me,” Tails-me says, brushing by with a bowl of dry oats. Holding the oats over the sink, I add just the right amount of room-temperature tap water. I wait for Heads-me to set the eggs and bacon on the counter before retreating to the microwave.

Heads-me cracks the second egg on the pan. Frowning at the speck of eggshell in the sizzling whites, I pick it out with a fork and a spoon.

The microwave beeps nearby. Tails-me pulls out the hot bowl of oatmeal and slams the microwave shut.

Heads-me jumps. “Must you make so much noise?”

“Are you talking to yourself?” Tails-me retorts, dousing the oatmeal with maple syrup and handfuls of fresh berries.

“Very funny.” I eye the tiny frying pan on the stove as I flip the eggs. I don’t think there’s room for the bacon.

Tails-me steps out the back door with the oatmeal. “Bon appétit.” With a sigh of relief at escaping the crowded kitchen, I step off the back porch, wander past the flower garden buzzing with pollinators, and sink down on the porch swing under the redbud tree. A yellowjacket hovers over my oatmeal, but I swat the pesky wasp away and savor the first bite of sweet maple syrup over a slightly sour raspberry and nutty oats.

Meanwhile, Heads-me sets a bigger skillet on the front burner, reaches over the eggs, and switches on the front burner. With a roaring pop, the burner bursts into flames, scorching my arm. I leap back with a howl of pain before darting in again to switch the burner back off. But I must have spilled more oil than I thought, because the fire refuses to go out. I snatch the fire extinguisher out from under the sink and pull out its pin. Yanking the eggs away with one hand, I squeeze the handle with the other, and a fine white spray covers the stove.

Out in the garden, Tails-me shoos away several yellowjackets before digging the spoon into the second half of the oatmeal. It feels as if another yellowjacket shows up every second. I brush at one of them on my arm. It retaliates with a sting. With a yelp, I jump to my feet. The other yellowjackets swarm around me in alarm. I take off running for the house only to step in a hole. A sharp pain shoots up my ankle as I tumble face down into the grass, followed by sting after sting from the angry horde of yellowjackets. But I scramble to my feet and hobble onto the porch.

Back in the kitchen, Heads-me stands at the sink, holding my burned arm under cold running water. I stab the last bite of egg out of the pan and try to savor its bland softness. It really needs bacon to add some crunch. With a sigh, I turn off the tap and trudge to the table to sit down, only to bump into Tails-me.

Suddenly, gravity has moved behind me instead of under me. I slam backward against my other self. Stars shoot across my vision. I feel as if my limbs are twisted inside out and pasted back on the wrong sides.

The distorted sensation fades. I find myself sprawled on the kitchen floor. Groggily, I massage my aching ankle. My forearm burns, and yellowjacket stings pepper me from head to toe. I stumble to my feet, limp over to the table, and slump into a chair with a sigh. I should have just gone with the bowl of cereal.

Follow Your Heart

by Melissa Lomax

Digital drawing and color

Inspiration: This piece is from my ongoing comic, "Doodle Town." I am a true believer in making plans and chipping away at to-dos in order to achieve goals but I also think there is something special about truly listening to your inner-voice and then following your heart!

If you like the issue, you can donate to Wild Greens through our Ko-fi page!

The Pumpkin Passage

by Melissa Lomax

Traditional & Digital Drawing and Color

Inspiration: During the pandemic and the height of autumn, I would take long walks in nature. While letting my mind roam, I started to imagine “The Pumpkin Passage,” a portal that leads to a magical Halloween-world! In this land, my character, Kitty Lolo, befriends the Ghoulie Gang and enjoys all of the carefree activities and traditions this secret destination has to offer. The series runs each Monday in October from 2020-2022, here is a link to the very first episode!

Waking the Botanist

by D A Angelo

Perhaps, in another life, the botanist

in me would have won the tug-of-warbetween humanities and the sciences.
I'd happily drown myself in the blushing pink corals of cockscomb flowers,bleached wire nests of witches’ hair,
held my nose at the stinking starfish of a carrion plant, waited for the corpse flower’s skyscraper of a stem, admired
the Venus flytrap’s dangerous eyelashes,and stood back at the haunting presence of a ghost plant, lit up by the spotlight
of a full moon. I clasp the word perhaps as I dig the soil beds in my garden, caressing saplings like fire lilies — beautiful rarities, brimming with passion.

Dream 1 and Dream 2

by Irina Tall

Collage

Inspiration: Your quiet home, if it were always with you, with the wave of a magic wand. A quiet haven of hope or— sometimes— it's just a dream, an assumption.

Sunday Afternoon with Fibonacci

by Joan E. Bauer

We’re having coffee in Stories Books’ shaded patio. Echo Park on Sunset. LA’s hub for world lit, small press & zines.
The Frugal Traveler’s schooling me on Fibonacci whom I vaguely remember  from ‘Math for Poets’ long ago.
This Fibonacci, born in Pisa, grew up in North Africa where he learnedthen spread the word throughout Europe—
the 1-2-3 from the Indo-Arabic numeric system—better for commercethan Roman numerals, by Jove.
His great discovery, the Fibonacci sequence:   0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89…Each new number, sum of the last two.
And yes, I’m intrigued by the Golden Ratio in nature: nautilus shell, cochlea, seeds on a sunflower,
the pleasing-to-the eye placement of the navel relative to crown & toe (though I get sidetracked by the navel—)
while the Frugal Traveler moves onto the Double Helix, spirals in the galaxy. The Milky Way.
Of course, I’m dazzled—but ask: Does any of this make you wonderabout, dare I say, God?
Could it all be mathematics& evolution? After another sip of coffee, he answers. Beats me.

Artists and Contributors

Suzy Harris

Poet

Suzy Harris lives in Portland, Oregon. Her poems have appeared in Calyx, Clackamas Literary Review, and Switchgrass Review, among other journals and anthologies. Her chapbook Listening in the Dark, about hearing loss and learning to hear again with cochlear implants, was published by The Poetry Box in 2023. She enjoys making soup, walking among big trees, and travel journaling.

Maggie Topel

Artist

Maggie Topel (she/her) is an artist and writer living in Philadelphia. She designs our seasonal Wild Greens logos and social media avatar.

Mariah Harned

Author

Mariah Harned (she/her) is a research assistant in a neuroendocrinology lab at Colorado State University. Given her background in biology and chemistry, she usually channels her love of writing into science fiction. But sometimes her childhood on a farm shows up in the form of talking animals.

Melissa Lomax

Artist

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!

Irina Tall

Artist

Irina Tall (Novikova) is an artist, graphic artist, and illustrator. She graduated from the State Academy of Slavic Cultures with a degree in art. She also has a Bachelor's Degree in design.

Her first personal exhibition, "My soul is like a wild hawk," (2002), was held in the Museum of Maxim Bogdanovich. In her works, she raises themes of ecology, including a series of works in 2005 that she devoted to the Chernobyl disaster. She also draws on anti-war topics for inspiration. The first big series she drew was The Red Book, dedicated to rare and endangered species of animals and birds. She writes fairy tales and poems, as well as illustrates short stories. She draws various fantastic creatures: unicorns, animals with human faces, and images of the human/bird called a Siren. In 2020, she took part in Poznań Art Week. Her work has been published in magazines such as Gupsophila, Harpy Hybrid Review, Little Literary Living Room, and others. In 2022, her short story was included in the collection "The 50 Best Short Stories," and her poem was published in the poetry collection, "The wonders of winter."

D A Angelo

Poet

D A Angelo (he/him) is a UK-based poet with work in South, BarBar, The Crank, SurVision, Eclectica Magazine, Flights of the Dragonfly, Impspired, The Amazine, and Petrichor Mag.

Joan E. Bauer

Poet

Joan E. Bauer is the author of three full-length poetry collections, Fig Season (Turning Point, 2023), The Camera Artist (Turning Point, 2021), and The Almost Sound of Drowning (Main Street Rag, 2008). Recent work has appeared in Paterson Literary Review, Slipstream, and Chiron Review. For some years, she was a teacher and counselor and now divides her time between Venice, CA and Pittsburgh, PA where she co-curates the Hemingway's Summer Poetry Series with Kristofer Collins (www.hemingwayspoetryseries.blogspot.com).

Jessica Doble

Poetry Editor

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

Poetry Editor and Copyeditor

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, running, cinema, music, and seeing the world. When not doing mom things, she is working full-time, learning a new language, and planning her next trip.

You can follow Myra on Instagram at @inwordform. Her work can be purchased on Amazon.

Tim Brey

Music Editor

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 The University of the Arts, where he teaches jazz piano, music theory, and improvisation. Check out more of his music and his performance schedule at https://www.timbreymusic.com.

Jacqueline Ruvalcaba

Senior Editor

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 Boyle

Arts Editor

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

Editor-in-chief

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).

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