The Exclusion Zone
"I'm a radical environmentalist; I think the sooner we asphyxiate in our own filth, the better. The world will do better without us. Maybe some fuzzy animals will go with us, but there'll be plenty of other animals, and they'll be back." Anthony Bourdain

We have all seen the remains of Pripyat -
the crazy doll on a mattress in a room of trash,
the empty ferris wheel that only spins for ghosts.
We have all read of the explosion at Chernobyl
and how radiation drifted across Europe.
We have read of the breakdown in the Soviet Union.
Yeah yeah yeah.  Blah-de-blah,
but what I am talking about is -
the return of the animals to the exclusion zone.
The rampant growth of trees and other green stuff
without the interference of humans.
I am not afraid of a nuclear war or
holocaust.  In fact, I welcome it.
We humans have been such poor steward of this earth
that we deserve to be sent back to the dark ages.
We deserve to be obliterated.
I am not going to imagine a death by radiation poisoning
or a war or a nuclear disaster.
I am going to imagine instead
living in a pure world where animals roam free -
where trees grow and disrupt streets
and tear apart bricks.
Yeppers.  I am not going to fear.
I am going to wait it out.