morphrog’s 30th edition is now live at www.morphrog.com
This is another truly international edition, with poems and prose from nineteen writers based in or hailing from places as diverse as Canada, Germany, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, the UK and the USA, together with photographs by co-editor Peter Stewart. Submissions for morphrog 31 (July 2025) – poetry, prose, photographs, audio, whatever! – are invited at morphrog@gmail.com See the masthead of the current edition for submission guidelines.
From morphrog 30:
St Malo
Then I sailed to a tight-bunched town
pushing its fist out to sea, ramparts
razed by Allies’ planes, to a hotel
compressed like a book on a shelf —
tramped up shallow spiral stairs,
a drooping key in the lock of my door —
I walked in my sleep that night, a landing
cramped as a handkerchief, acid alive
in my guts. I swear I risked the well
of the stairs, stole into alleys
where light was scant, into a vestige
of war. Rationed vittles occupied
stalls, respectable women sent
road signs askew, inked bank notes
with Free France Now. Misdirected mail.
On a brothel doorstep, a newlaid turd.
I know I risked the stairwell —
I needed the soothe of waves,
lost myself down cobbled ravines,
aching for the sea.
© Jenny Hockey