A young man with glasses and tattoos standing on a balcony at dusk, with a lit Ferris wheel in the background.

cj

calamari

New York based poet & fiction writer.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

“have you seen what i’ve become”

“I’m scared that we’ll always find our way back to one another. Aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” you said. “I think I am.”

You tucked your hand underneath my waist and kissed my stomach through my shirt. You made fun of me because I got hard. Although I probably would’ve refused to admit it, I knew that, if someone were to walk in on us, I would take my arm away from your body, act as though I had never kissed your scalp, never wanted to. 

“It’s gonna keep happening,” I told you. “I know it. I just know it.” 

I kissed the crown of your head with the same devotion and fear with which one kisses a crucifix.

(Fiction) Pub. May 2026, Santa Clara Review Issue 113.2

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Leasing agreement

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the absent one

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ode to the bedroom window

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julian

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have you seen what i've become

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Leasing agreement * the absent one * ode to the bedroom window * julian * have you seen what i've become *