About Cai

Cai (he/him) is a black trans poet, teaching artist, and archivist with roots in Boston, Massachusetts. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Cai’s poems can be found in Best New Poets, swamp pink, Tupelo Quarterly, and Peach Mag, among others. He received his undergraduate degree from Smith College and holds an MFA from New York University. His work centers Black transmasculine life, past and present, in the United States. He has found homes at The Watering Hole, Brooklyn Poets, Tin House, Lambda, the Chicago Poetry Center, and the Fine Arts Work Center, and is a member of both the Crossroads Writers Collective and Trans Corner Poets. His debut chapbook, Out of Yearning, is slated for release in October 2026 with Sibling Rivalry Press.