BrontE Wieland
ALL OF IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN
She won’t believe in limitless
& isn’t scared to die.
The image in her childhood,
I’ve never found in mine.
I’ll mark the Eye of Jupiter
so close beneath my skin
& pray to lords from other worlds
to rinse away my sin.
The song that rattles in her head
reminds her where she’s from.
So all along the watchtower
I seek the One to come.
But as my stomach senses death,
now Starbuck glows with life.
Our Vipers fall, side by side;
she leads me into night.
I will not breathe on Earth anew.
She won’t believe in limitless
& isn’t scared to die.
The image in her childhood,
I’ve never found in mine.
I’ll mark the Eye of Jupiter
so close beneath my skin
& pray to lords from other worlds
to rinse away my sin.
The song that rattles in her head
reminds her where she’s from.
So all along the watchtower
I seek the One to come.
But as my stomach senses death,
now Starbuck glows with life.
Our Vipers fall, side by side;
she leads me into night.
I will not breathe on Earth anew.
TWO CONVERSATIONS
after S3 Ep 14, "The Woman King"
SOLDIER/SURGEON
Never trust a machine, Doc.
I
will never trust a machine
but I’ll trust you, a doctor whose
voice rattles like a tylium
refinery’s greasier levels,
a man whose throat
croaks a tune
more suited to decades-ago
depictions of Tauron’s
more unsavory gangsters.
You know this, Doc,
But a doctor & a Tauron
lawyer can be trusted
in the same ways. They’ll never
betray you under the cold knife or sanctuary.
(Unless it’s a matter
with family pride at stake.)
I trust a man of medicine who knows what
he believes in, especially
if it’s not the same Lords
those fucking Sagittarons kneel
before.
That man in Galactica’s underbelly,
Doc, he doesn’t coddle
the zealots but he treats them.
I trust him, Doc, that’s why I
volunteer to work down there.
I trust him.
Don’t you?
SAGITTARON/CYLON
Do machines need medicine, machine?
What toxins do you breathe
frightenedly? When
do your children die?
There’s so much that haunts a human--
I’m sorry, I can’t stop
coughing—so
many questions. Do you ask
questions? Or do you simply
know? On Sagittaron we know
the Lords who
heal us. Sagittaron
is only our hearts now & I
don’t blame you.
We are dying,
too. We, like you--
I’m sorry, I can’t
stop coughing--
don’t need medicine
either. If our Lords & your
god dwell on the same
plane, may our souls
meet then. End
of line.
after S3 Ep 14, "The Woman King"
SOLDIER/SURGEON
Never trust a machine, Doc.
I
will never trust a machine
but I’ll trust you, a doctor whose
voice rattles like a tylium
refinery’s greasier levels,
a man whose throat
croaks a tune
more suited to decades-ago
depictions of Tauron’s
more unsavory gangsters.
You know this, Doc,
But a doctor & a Tauron
lawyer can be trusted
in the same ways. They’ll never
betray you under the cold knife or sanctuary.
(Unless it’s a matter
with family pride at stake.)
I trust a man of medicine who knows what
he believes in, especially
if it’s not the same Lords
those fucking Sagittarons kneel
before.
That man in Galactica’s underbelly,
Doc, he doesn’t coddle
the zealots but he treats them.
I trust him, Doc, that’s why I
volunteer to work down there.
I trust him.
Don’t you?
SAGITTARON/CYLON
Do machines need medicine, machine?
What toxins do you breathe
frightenedly? When
do your children die?
There’s so much that haunts a human--
I’m sorry, I can’t stop
coughing—so
many questions. Do you ask
questions? Or do you simply
know? On Sagittaron we know
the Lords who
heal us. Sagittaron
is only our hearts now & I
don’t blame you.
We are dying,
too. We, like you--
I’m sorry, I can’t
stop coughing--
don’t need medicine
either. If our Lords & your
god dwell on the same
plane, may our souls
meet then. End
of line.
Brontë Christopher Wieland is an MFA candidate in Creative Writing & Environment at Iowa State University, where he thinks about language, storytelling, nature, history, community, and their intersections. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison having studied Math and Linguistics and is coeditor of the anthology Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk & Eco-Speculation.