Poetry
Order Relational (chapbook) at Sixth Finch Books
Slipstream, a collection of poems, forthcoming from Tupelo Press, 2026
Remote 6-week workshop with Poets House (September 27, 2025-November 1, 2025):
https://poetshouse.org/event/cao-poetry-power-attention/
Publications
“Glossolalia” and “Appendix,” Gulf Coast, October 2021
“梁祝 (The Butterfly Lovers)” and “嫦娥 (The Moon Lady)” Ecotone, November 2021, Best New Poets Nominee
“Convergence” and “Old Dogs (Remember),” Crazyhorse, November 2021, Best American Poetry Pick of the Week
“Rupture: 1969 | 2021 | 1984 | 1996 | —,” Hayden’s Ferry Review, April 2022
“Love poem for my friends on a road trip to the end of the world and also the beginning” and “Love poem for my stranger selves and also, ultimately, for D,” Sixth Finch, Fall 2022, Best of the Net Nominee
“A Guide to Seed Propagation in Hawai’i,” “Every Day the World,” and “The Thing about Paradise,” The Georgia Review, Winter 2022
“Love Poem for Brood X,” 32 Poems, January 2023, Best New Poets nominee
“love poem for the middle of love,” The Journal, March 2023
“Final Frontier,” HAD, August 2023
“Sick Days: Sonnet Corona,” Nimrod Neruda Prize, 2nd Place Winner, September 2023
“Omens” and “Ordinary Trouble,” Sixth Finch, January 2024, Pushcart nominee
“Laundry, Clean Room, Shower, Trash Day, Taxes” and “Relational,” diode, March 2024, Best of the Net nominee
“Hi, I'm sorry to keep missing you,” HAD, June 2024
“The Arrival,” Poet Tree, July 2024
“Privacy Policy,” Taco Bell Quarterly, October 2024
“Sometimes you have to be still and suffer,” The Yale Review, January 2025
“the algorithm moves toward an average” and “Refractory Period,” DIALOGIST, January 2025
“Figuring Out My Dating Goals” and “The Reason,” Diode, March 2025
“Current Events,” “After,” “Species in Reverse,” “Big History,” “Patina,” Waxwing, September 2025
“Kuchisabishii,” Notre Ecriture, September 2025
“The Kingdom of Daughters,” Ploughshares, April 2022, PEN/Robert J. Dau Award nominee
“Video Wonderland, How Can I Help You?” Ploughshares, July 2024, Pushcart nominee
“The Quiet Part,” The Threepenny Review, December 2024
“Animals,” The Kenyon Review, 2025 Short Fiction Contest winner
Fiction
Misc.
“Florida Election Analysis,” Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project, June 2020
“Election Administration Challenges in Florida,” Lawfare, September 2020
“Video Underground: How Corporations Capture Culture,” The Flaw, January 2023
“February in May,” 32 Poems, May 2023
Interview, Speaking of Marvels, May 2024