i wanted to walk through the empty streets
and feel something constant under my feet
but the news reports recommended that i stay indoors
Radiation is invisible, but it’s not too difficult to build an apparatus that lets you see it. This video shows the ghostly aftermath of passing radiation in a cloud chamber, one of the first set-ups used to study radiation.
SENDING THIS MESSAGE WAS IMPORTANT TO US WE CONSIDERERED OURSELVES TO BE A POWERFUL CULTURE
Spike Field A series of extremely large spikes emerging from the ground at different angles.
Spikes Bursting Through Grid A large square grid pattern across the site, through which large spikes protrude at various angles.
Menacing Earthworks Large mounds of earth shaped like lightning bolts, emanating from the edges of a square site. The shapes would be strikingly visible from the air, or from artificial hills constructed around the site.
THIS PLACE IS A MESSAGE AND PART OF A SYSTEM OF MESSAGES PAY ATTENTION TO IT!
The Sandia report explored designs for physical markers which conveyed the concepts of dangerous emanations, shapes that evoke bodily harm, and the concept of "shunned land" that appears destroyed or poisoned. The designs suggested included:
Landscape of Thorns A mass of many irregularly-sized spikes protruding from the ground in all directions.
because the air outside will make
our cells divide at an alarming rate
Black Hole An enormous slab of basalt or black-dyed concrete, rendering the land uninhabitable and unfarmable.
Rubble Landscape A large square-shaped pile of dynamited rock, which over time would still appear anomalous and give a sense of something having been destroyed.
THIS PLACE IS NOT A PLACE OF HONOR NO HIGHLY ESTEEMED DEED IS COMMEMORATED HERE NOTHING VALUED IS HERE
and i'm looking through the glass
where the light bends at the cracks
i've got a cupboard with cans of food
filtered water and pictures of you
and i'm not coming out until this is all over
WHAT IS HERE WAS DANGEROUS AND REPULSIVE TO US THIS MESSAGE IS A WARNING ABOUT DANGER
the coast disappeared when the sea drowned the sun
i knew no words to share it with anyone
the boundaries of language i quietly cursed
and all the different names for the same thing
maybe maybe they'll stay true
my seeds will cross and then take root
and leave you to an empty room
lonely lonely that is you
THE DANGER IS IN A PARTICULAR LOCATION IT INCREASES TOWARD A CENTER THE CENTER OF DANGER IS HERE OF A PARTICULAR SIZE AND SHAPE AND BELOW US
and i'm screaming at the top of my lungs
pretending the echoes belong to someone
someone i used to know
THE DANGER IS UNLEASHED ONLY IF YOU SUBSTANTIALLY DISTURB THIS PLACE PHYSICALLY
THIS PLACE IS BEST SHUNNED AND LEFT UNINHABITED
Forbidding Blocks A network of hundreds of house-sized stone blocks, dyed black and arranged in an irregular square grid, suggesting a network of "streets" which feel ominous and lead nowhere. The blocks are intended to make a large area entirely unsuitable for farming or other future use.
THE DANGER IS STILL PRESENT IN YOUR TIME AS IT WAS IN OURS THE DANGER IS TO THE BODY AND IT CAN KILL THE FORM OF THE DANGER IS AN EMANATION OF ENERGY
until our shell simply cannot hold all our insides in and that's when we'll explode
and it won't be a pretty sight