Poems by Rohan Buettel
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Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
by Rohan Buettel
From Canary Fall 2023
Rohan lives in Australia’s bush capital, nestled in the foothills of the Brindabella range beside the Murrumbidgee (Australia’s second-longest river) on land whose traditional custodians are the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples
In the red forest we abandon time,
humans retreat from the zone
of alienation, where pine trees died
from high doses of radiation,
bulldozed and buried in trenches,
covered with sand and replanted
with saplings. Yet, with people gone
wildlife can flourish, find habitat:
wild boar and beavers, wolves and deer,
storks and eagles brave the roentgens;
soil contaminated by strontium ninety
and caesium one three seven —
half-lives of thirty years.
Endangered species gather, find refuge
in the reserve. Despite stunted plants,
stunted tail feathers, biodiversity grows
in the places where people don’t go.
© Rohan Buettel