Matti Ben-Lev

Matti is a queer nonfiction writer and poet based in Northern Virginia. His writing has appeared (or are forthcoming) in McSweeney’s, Rumpus, CRAFT, Ekphrastic Review, Jake, and elsewhere. His unpublished chapbook manuscript, letters to jimi hendrix, was a semi-finalist in FLP’s 2025 chapbook contest. Matti is the assistant nonfiction editor for the intersectional feminist lit mag So To Speak, and an MFA candidate in CNF from George Mason University. Find him at mattibenbenlev.com or on Bluesky @mattibl.bsky.social

BIG STEVE HID WATER BOTTLES OF PISS BENEATH HIS BED by Matti Ben-Lev

August 4, 2025 · Creative Nonfiction

He was used to being homeless. He was used to sleeping in his car in Philly parking lots. Once, he picked up a Tinder date, drove her 3 hours from Baltimore to Philly, rode around looking for his ex-girlfriend, didn’t find her, and only told his date the truth about his ex and why they drove to Philly on the car ride back. I don’t remember how she responded, but I think they went out a few more times. Big Steve unrolled cigarettes, made a bong out of a water bottle and a pen, hit tobacco out the window of…

Megan M. Garwood