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Canadian-born Ian McBryde has been a long term resident of Australia. He is well-published both in Australia and many countries overseas, and his poetry has been translated into Greek, French, Spanish and Japanese. He has performed his work in many Australian venues and festivals, as well as featured performances in Canada, the UK, and America. His fourth collection of poetry, Equatorial, was published in late 2001, and he has just released his second CD of spoken-word, The Still Company (www.thestillcompany.com), with musical backing written in collusion with Melbourne musician Greg Riddell. His next collection of poetry, Domain, about WW2 and Europe under occupation, will be released by Five Islands Press in May 2004. He is currently recording new material and working on two new collections of poetry.

"Pain is the only force that is created from nothing,
without cost and without effort"
Primo Levi

They hold their shoulders to the slope, the shape.
Their sinews lean uphill deep underground.
Above them mountains crouch and watch and wait.

They have not asked to be here in this place,
all stolen from their villages and towns.
They hold their shoulders to the slope, the shape.

They forge war metals for the German state,
and know what happens when the new guards frown.
Above them mountains crouch and watch and wait.

Each day they mould the rockets into hate,
hands made raw from the cold steel they pound.
They hold their shoulders to the slope, the shape.

They toil despite the killings and the rapes.
Beneath the rock an echo claims its sound.
Above them mountains crouch and watch and wait.

In unison their hammers fall with weight.
For what they do there is no verb, no noun.
They hold their shoulders to the slope, the shape.
Above them mountains crouch and watch and wait.