Martin Rock

Poet

San Diego, CA

California US

Email:

martin.shijin.rock@gmail.com

Website:

martinrockpoetry.com

Author's Bio

Martin Rock is the author of Infinite Scroll (Tupelo Press, 2027), selected by Carolyn Forché for the Tupelo Berkshire Prize, and Residuum, editor’s choice for the Cleveland State University Poetry Center’s First Book Prize and a Foreword INDIE Book Award finalist. With Adrienne Perry and Kevin Prufer, he co-edited Other Legacies: Great Unsung American Poets (Wesleyan University Press, 2026). His chapbooks include Dear Mark (Brooklyn Arts Press) and Fish, You Bird (Pilot Books, co-written with Philip D. Ischy). He has been awarded the Donald Barthelme Prize in Poetry, named runner-up for The Missouri Review Editors’ Prize, and his editorial work for Gulf Coast was recognized for excellence by the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP). Martin teaches writing and climate justice at the University of California San Diego, and, with poets Kevin Prufer and Wayne Miller, co-directs The Unsung Masters Series.

Education:

New York University MFA

University of Houston PhD

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:

Other Legacies: Great Unsung American Poets (Wesleyan University Press, 2026)

Best American Experimental Writing (Wesleyan University Press, 2018)

The Apocalypse Anthology (Flying Guillotine Press, 2013)

Best New Poets 2012 (University of Virginia Press, 2012)

Books:

Infinite Scroll (Tupelo Press, 2027)

Residuum (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2016)

Chapbooks:

Dear Mark (Brooklyn Arts Press, 2013)

Fish, You Bird (Pilot Books, 2010)

Journals:

Black Warrior Review

Conduit

Diagram

Elimae

Forklift, Ohio

H_NGM_N

InDigest

The Journal

La Fovea

La Petite Zine

LEVELER Poetry Journal

Mississippi Review Online

NANO Fiction

tuesday; An Art Project

Prizes won:

2025 Tupelo Berkshire Prize, selected by Carolyn Forché for "Infinite Scroll," Runner-up for The Missouri Review Editors' Prize, 2015 Editor's Choice for Cleveland State University Poetry Center First Book Prize for Residuum, Semi-Finalist for “Discovery”/ Boston Review Prize, 2013 Pushcart Prize nomination from Black Warrior Review, 2012 Finalist, Arctic Technology, DIAGRAM New Michigan Press Chapbook Contest, 2012 Finalist, How to Know the Oceans, Four Way Books Intro Prize, 2012 Inclusion in Best New Poets 2012 Exceptional Manuscript, New Country, Omnidawn First Book Prize, 2011 Finalist, New Country, Sarabande Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry, 2011 Semi-Finalist, Black Lawrence Press Chapbook Contest for Vertibratariat, 2010 Finalist, Black Lawrence Press Chapbook Contest for Notes After a Harlequin Apocalypse, 2010 Finalist, Cody Harris Allen Award for poetry, 2004 Honorable Mention, Academy of American Poets’ John McKay Shaw Award, 2004

Personal Favorites

What I'm reading now:

Destroyer and Preserver by Matthew Rohrer, The Art Spirit by Robert Henri, The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby, Conversities by Dan Beachy-Quick & Srikanth Reddy, Paterson by William Carlos Williams

More Information

Gives readings:

Yes

Travels for readings:

Yes

Prefers to work with:

Any

Fluent in:

English, Japanese

Born in:

Tallahassee, FL

Florida

Raised in:

Wilson, WY

Wyoming

Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.

Last update: Mar 28, 2026