David Rock

Winner of the Greg Grummer 2021 Poetry Contest

The friction of experience—

a little something heavy
to carry around in a pillow case

to remind us that our mother
embroidered her blossoms
at night

when she couldn’t fall asleep.

David Rock

holds a doctorate in Latin American literature from Penn State University. His academic research focuses on Vincente Huidobro’s “creacionismo” and other Spanish-American and Luso-Brazilian avant-garde movements of the early 20th Century. A laureate of the Instituto de Estudios Vallejianos, his poetry appears in The Carolina Quarterly, New American Writing, Sugar House Review, Tampa Review, Image, and many other journals. He teaches Spanish and international studies at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg.

Art by Alexey Adonin

“The Head”
Green Ink & Felt-Tip Pens on Paper

As an explorer of the mysterious universe of art, Jerusalem-based abstract-surrealist artist Alexey Adonin has dedicated over one and a half-decades to conveying his vision of hidden otherworldly realms connected with a timeless source of inspiration. Alexey was born in Slutsk, Belarus, in 1973. He graduated in 1993 from the State Art College named after A. K. Glebov, in Minsk, Belarus. In the same year, he immigrated to Israel. Since 2002, Alexey has exhibited locally and internationally. His works have also been acquired by notable private collections worldwide.