Griffin Rockwell (xe/they)
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daftrockwell.bsky.social
Griffin Rockwell (xe/they)
@daftrockwell.bsky.social
230 followers 99 following 29 posts
• queer poet • master of science fiction • cat parent • Godzilla enthusiast •

MFA candidate at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop

https://linktr.ee/griffinrockwell
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daftrockwell.bsky.social
“I had worked hard for nearly two years…”

Author copies are here and I’m thrilled!! Grateful to @mickmakesmagic.bsky.social for the cover, @taylorbyas.bsky.social / @pintsncupcakes.bsky.social / Warren Longmire for blurbs, and of course Holly at @interstellarflight.bsky.social for picking it up!!
Griffin’s new chapbook, “LISTEN—“, lays on top of a collection of science fiction-related patches on a black background.
October 11, 2025 at 10:04 PM
daftrockwell.bsky.social
It’s real and it’s coming soon—on Oct. 6, my latest chapbook will release!! This is a love letter to discovery and science fiction and the first book-length poem I’ve written. Preorder now here: www.interstellarflightpress.com/listen.html and join us at the Zoom launch party on Oct. 6!
Cover art for Griffin Rockwell’s forthcoming book “LISTEN—“ which features an androgynous person staring at the viewer, outlined in purple, with a starry background.
September 5, 2025 at 3:29 PM
daftrockwell.bsky.social
Chicago! Tonight at 7! So excited to read with @nberlat.bsky.social, @saramatson.bsky.social, @ejoylevinson.bsky.social, and my wonderful co-author Elena Rielinger Ferguson!
Poster advertising a reading tonight at 7pm in Chicago with Noah Berlatsky, Griffin Rockwell and Elena Rielinger Ferguson, Sara Matson, and Elizabeth Joy Levinson. Address is Pilsen Community Books at 1102 W 18th St, Chicago IL 60608.
August 18, 2025 at 2:31 PM
daftrockwell.bsky.social
1st 2025 pub, ft. Creature from the Black Lagoon references, gender feelings, and shadow selves!

Thanks @littlemissbleah.bsky.social for picking it up 💙

Find the anthology here: www.defunktmag.com/product-page...
Picture of thr Creature from the Black Lagoon swimming under a woman, with this text overlaid: From “I Go Looking For My Shadow Self—Lose Her” in the Defunkt surreal confessional anthology. Poem excerpt reads: “My body is an old black and white movie, a lagoon with a creature stirring in its depths. I dream my shadow self swims beside me, silhouette tenuous against the water’s edges.”
May 9, 2025 at 3:57 PM
daftrockwell.bsky.social
Starting Perry Janes’ book “Find Me When You’re Ready” and having to pause in the prelude. Wow.
Poem by Perry Janes, titled “Love Poem as Trojan Horse.” Poem reads: The forest fires above Los Angeles have crept down The hills overnight, where this morning their scorched Sunrise rouges my fiddlehead fern. Sometimes Hope is a question of redirecting the camera. A friend tells me he has to trick himself into feeling Anything but numb for the world. What won’t burn? Not the patchwork quilt Tina bought For our engagement. Not the brewery growlers Stacked along our wine crate bookshelves, teacups Glazed with our fingerprints. The fake stars Glued to our ceiling in constellations forever Spelling fortune. Not the anything we truly cherish— I used to prize clarity without compromise. I used to want suffering center-stage, well lit In the lens. Now, it’s changed. So many Routes in the heart’s city, steadily walled. So much need for a gentle hand pulling Focus from one fire to another, the tug That leads me from my window out Into the night, our night, a blanket Tossed around our shoulders, full Bellies swaying, her body stamped On mine as we stumble to the gates. If it must be ruin, if it must come To ruin: Love, open me.
January 16, 2025 at 1:06 AM
daftrockwell.bsky.social
Apparently today is the day they hit the Breach. In honor of that, have a snippet from my abecedarian Self-Portrait as Pacific Rim—or check out the whole thing here:

www.freezeraypoetry.com/gretchen-roc...
Excerpt from Griffin Rockwell’s “Self-Portrait as Pacific Rim,” which reads: Adaptability / has always been an asset / Building ourselves / new bodies / new strength Cherno coyote crimson Corinthian chrome Danger / the names we give ourselves / matter Exoskeletons / are as strong as / we make them Fighting unwinnable wars / every apocalypse more Grim than the last / we think of ourselves / as beyond Human / we already see a body / as something bigger
January 13, 2025 at 3:16 AM
daftrockwell.bsky.social
Hard to believe it, but my first semester at the Workshop is done. (Now that grades are in, it feels real!) Never could’ve imagined this is how and where I would end my year, but incredibly grateful to be here.
Griffin stands in front of a sun setting behind a University of Iowa building. They are wearing a teal shirt and cicada collar pins and smiling.
December 24, 2024 at 2:51 PM
daftrockwell.bsky.social
How beautiful! I appreciate the gratitude fish and am sending you a shadow-leaf sidewalk in return!
A photo of a light gray concrete sidewalk that is covered in dark leaf prints.
November 26, 2024 at 7:31 PM