Contaminated Land

Ancient submerged volcanoes
Rise up from the ocean floor,
Their tips littering the landscape
As tremendous shadows of the past
Cast a barely visible film of filth
Across this false Pacific paradise.
Where Spanish conquistadors
Once prowled the dunes,
Scintillators now sweep across the sands,
Combing beaches for dirty treasures
That can no longer lie buried.
Pantry islands not suitable for
Habitation lie in wait;
Their rotten fruit a siren’s call
To scattered islanders who cross
Impossible craters and
Invisible barriers of radiological taboo.
Satellites, statistics, and empirical semivariograms
Are calibrated against international
Safety standards for radiation exposure;
Each data point weighed against
An avalanche of history and regret.
Scatter plots and stick charts
Unshrouding mysteries that
Malformed coconuts and
Irradiated pandanus have long known:
That