Worra, Bryan Thao (1973– )
Poet Bryan Thao Worra was born Thao Somnouk
Silosoth on January 1, 1973, in Vientiane, Laos,
and moved to the United States in July of the same
year. He attended the Rudolf Steiner School in Ann
Arbor, Michigan, and Otterbein College.
Worra’s poetry draws on Lao and Hmong cul-
ture, the experience of resettlement in the United
States, and everyday life in the Midwest, often em-
ploying humor, and self-conscious meditations
on its uses, to dismantle and play upon ethnic ste-
reotypes and the racial politics of art. In “Anthol-
ogy,” Worra recites and ridicules the expectations
encountered by Asian-American writers writing
in “Eastern Voices for Western Coffeehouses,” de-
claring “I will not write / of white rice / or shades
of yellow.” In “Secrets,” he jokes about putting his
life in danger by disclosing the “secret to good pad
thai.” “Going Bamboo” conversely parodies the ro-
mantic appropriation and solemn glamorization
of multiculturalism by white artists: “She’s written
of her journey / on the path of the Tai Chi Sword
... Sure, she’s Irish and drives an SUV / but she’s
got as much right to write as you and I.” A poem
depicting an interview with an elder Hmong sha-
man who prefers to talk of professional wrestling
is entitled “The Spirit Catches You, and You Get
Bodyslammed.”
In chapbooks such as The Tuk-Tuk Diaries: My
Dinner With Clusterbombs (published in 2003) and
Touching Detonations, Worra also explores the af-
terlife of war in Laos embodied by the continued
threat of unexploded ordnance (UXO). His poems
have appeared in the literary anthology Bamboo
among the Oaks and periodicals including the Paj
Ntaub Voice Hmong Literary Journal, Defenestra-
tion, and Speakeasy, among others. Worra lives
in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he has organized
poetry readings and art exhibitions and worked
with organizations including the Hmong Ameri-
can Institute for Learning the SatJaDham Lao
Literary Project. His awards include a Minnesota
Playwrights’ Center Many Voices Award in 2002
and a Minnesota State Arts Board Cultural Col-
laboration Award (with Mali Kouanchao) in 2005.
Worra makes many of his poems available on his
Web site (members.aol.com/thaoworra) in the
form of e-chapbooks.
Alex FeerstWorra, Bryan Thao 325