Dust to Moondust

Mitch Browne

They came for the land and
became it, clearing fields
to plant themselves and raise
a crop of stunted stone.

More were borne in their wake,
drawn to berth in new ground.
Enwombed inert below,
they ceded self to soil.

Pioneers repeated,
across a gravid globe,
and Earth’s issue raptured
to seize another sphere.

Now, bound apart, they light 
their own revolution,
reflecting the grand days’
glory back to themselves.

Now they are the moon too.

The Science

This poem looks at the human life cycle, which ends in the body returning to the earth. Through the process of decomposition, the body loses its individual identity and becomes the earth. The poem observes how our species’ urge to conquer and colonise leads us not just to inhabit new lands, but also to become new lands, as our bodies merge with the soil.

The culmination of the poem is the recognition that this process is no longer just confined to our own planet but has also begun on the moon. Astrogeologist Gene Shoemaker was the first person to have their remains placed on the moon. During the process of decomposition, a body is broken down through the work of its own enzymes and various organisms, such as bacteria and insects. The speed of this process is affected by climatic conditions such as temperature and moisture. It is interesting to consider how this process might be different in the case of human burial on the moon.

The Poet

Mitch Browne is an Australian poet and bricklayer from the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. He won the ZineWest award for Best Poem in 2023, and again in 2024. His poetry has appeared in OfTheBook, Catchment, Quadrant, Grieve, medmic, and elsewhere.

Next poem: Entropy by Nicholas Hogg