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In the Hurtgen Forest, 1944
Slick wet autumn fog blocks out sound
as well as sight, a malevolent cloud
snouting the ground. Shapes mistaken
for the enemy become saplings,
tree trunks, hedges, clutches of leaves.
It is so cold that the blood left over
from their last advance has frozen
into the earth and trampled snow.
They cannot remember having slept.
Too many of them left out here,
twisting, gone, calling out for remote,
impossible mothers. The fear
fits them like uniforms, only closer.
They have never slept. It now only
takes a snap of branch or the sudden
silence of birds to have all of them, on
both sides of the line, firing wildly
repeatedly, at nothing, into the mist.
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Stalingrad Briefing, 1943
The patrols are told to eat snow as they go.
If they do this the enemy marksmen cannot see
the give-away plume of their breath. Smoke
closes over the Volga, awash with bodies entwined
with detritus, riding the dead river, bumping up
against its broken shores. Even colour has been
bombed and shot away; everything has taken on
greyness. The men are grey, their rations are
grey. The light is black and white. The only true
colour left is red. Explosions, blood, a bit
of ribbon. Replacements are told only to carry
their rifles at the ready and step in the footprints
of the men before them. Don't bunch up. Expect
worse than you can imagine. Do not speak.
Stay low and in shadow. Eat snow as you go.
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About the Poet
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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, entitled Equatorial, was published in late 2001, and he has just released his second CD of spoken-word, entitled The Still Company, in collusion with Melbourne musician Greg Riddell. His next collection of poetry, entitled Domain, about WW2 and Europe under occupation, will be released by Five Islands Press in May 2004 . Ian McBryde is currently recording new material and working on two new collections of poetry.
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