Tori Cárdenas

Tori Cárdenas is a trans poet from northern New Mexico. They earned their MFA in Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico in 2020, and currently live and work in Albuquerque.
war
plastic Army guys cost real money fight fake wars
a bag with half sandy men and half green—green
becomes GO and collecting $200 and dusty brown
becomes the enemy already the color of grass/dirt
already assuming positions of victory/surrender
dull bayonets and ARs and plastic fatigue classifies
Us from the others and I learn that I am
Other I am savage and I will take a side
against my own brother when we play war in our sandbox