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    CONTENTSOn a Stairway in Luang Prabang 3

    Leuk Lao 4

    Surprises in America 5

    Khop Jai for Nothing, Falangs 6

    Jaew 8

    E Pluribus Unum 9

    The Spirit Catches You, and You Get Body Slammed 10

    Democracia 11

    A Wat Is To Temple As To Escape Is To Survive 12

    Todays Special at the Shuang Cheng 13

    New Myths of the Northern Land 14

    Insomniacafe 15

    An Archaeology of Snow Forts 16

    Libertree 17

    Zh Bji 19

    One Day 20

    * * *

    About the Author 21

    Workshops 22

    Selected Awards and Recognition, 1991-2011 23

    Partial Publications List: 1999-2011 24

    Selected Performances, 2005-2011 28

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    On a Stairway in Luang Prabang

    Step as you will through life,

    A thousand ways, a thousand places.

    Carry a home in your heart

    Or spend years seeking the door

    Where your soul will always smile.

    Do you ease the way for others,

    Or just yourself?

    Do you climb great mountains

    Just to leave them unchanged?

    One day, the heights of holy Phu Si

    Will lay as soft valleys.

    We, only memories.

    But our childrens children?

    Will they, too, have reason to smile,

    Like those dreaming strangersWho finished their stairs for us?

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    Leuk LaoWe meet on the road

    But once and I cannot tell you

    In the time we have:

    "We are one."

    "What's left, what survived, what remains

    Of old dreams, old wars, old loves."

    We share atomic lives:

    Small, brief, unpredictable orbits,

    Curious flurries of motion and smiles.

    Who you become after I go,

    I can only guess

    Except by the photos

    Of occasional touring strangers

    In which I watch you grow,

    While you remember an eye,

    A camera, a wave goodbye.

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    Surprises in America

    It took me by surprise that Hitler was a vegetarian.

    Rudolf Hess, too.

    I remember reading about them as a boy.I remember the outrage when someone asked us to forgive them

    Because the two would pet their dogs before night.

    It took me by surprise that "Soldier of Fortune" offered a reward

    For Idi Amin.

    Paid in gold.

    Dead or alive.

    It was a lot of money.

    What does it say when mercenaries set bounties on tyrants' heads?

    It took me by surprise that we weren't always the good guys.

    What couldn't we buy in the land of the free?

    Why couldn't we go where we weren't welcome?

    It struck me by surprise that many people didn't believe

    I was an American

    When I had lived here all of my life.

    (Except for that two-day trip to Toronto.)

    If they had told me instead that my mother had died,

    I don't think I would have been as surprised.

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    Khop Jai for Nothing, FalangsThe bomb popped in his face

    While he was digging a fire pit

    For his family squatting

    On the old mercenary camp

    In Xieng Khouang province

    So notorious for its UXO.

    They live there for the American plumbing,

    Our host said flatly,

    Watching volleyball games by the airstrip.

    This was wholly routine.

    The ruined grounds were frozen.

    Explosives, dormant blooms below

    Can be mistaken for ice and rock easily.

    And he screamed

    The whole while as we loaded

    Him into the back of our rickety plane

    To Vientiane that

    Lao Aviation picked up from

    The Russians when everyone

    Thought the Cold War

    Was going somewhere.

    The California girl on holidayWas aghast and found it

    Quite unscenic.

    What a pall on her search for highs.

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    In Wat Inpaeng,

    A monk named Souk

    Confided discretely:

    We really hate hippies.

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    JaewGoes in hot. Comes out hot.

    But this may be more than the casual student

    Will want to know.

    Moms grinding chilies for me in Modesto.

    Red, green, a dash of fresh cilantro,

    Fermented shrimp sauce and a pinch of salt

    Between her mortar and pestle.

    Dabbing a sticky ball of khao nhio

    Into the tiny ceramic saucer, I know

    Shes a sorceressIn her kitchen

    Trying to find a way to say

    She loves me, hoping my prodigal tongue

    Is still Lao enough

    To understand what her broken English cannot convey.

    My eyes are cisterns of tears after 30 years.

    I should say mak phet and grab some cold milk

    But with a smile through the pain I stammer

    Saep lai, Mae, delicious, Mom.

    Saep lai, hak Mae lai lai.

    Dont talk, just eat, she says between her tears.

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    E Pluribus UnumYoua tells me a story over the hot hibachi:

    How she went to Laos

    To see her lucky sisters

    For the first time in two decades,

    Since the country has loosened up enough

    To let tourists like us in.

    Isnt it beautiful? she asks me,

    Then says she gave her sister Mayli $50

    To help her family.

    When Youa returned to the Twin Cities,She learned her sister had been murdered

    For the money

    By Maylis ex-husband, whod heard

    Of their family reunion

    And thought the cash rightfully belonged to him.

    Did you give your relatives anything?

    She asks.

    Yes, I reply. $500. But they say they need more

    To get to America.

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    The Spirit Catches You,and You Get Body SlammedI came to Missoula to ask him

    About the inner workings of ua neeb.

    To understand the symbolic significance of split horns

    And spirit horses who trace their noble smoky path

    To turns of an auspicious moon above ancient Qin.

    My tape recorder at the ready,

    My fountain pen freshly filled with indigo ink,

    My ears, my eyes, my heart:

    All were humbly waiting for

    The wise shaman's words

    To impart to the next generationOf youths who sought this fading voice.

    He spoke, and my interpreter said:

    "Who's your favorite wrestler?"

    I wasn't certain I'd heard properly.

    "Grandpa wants to know who your favorite wrestler is."

    My interpreter turned back to the shaman, speaking Hmong.

    Rising with a stately elder's grace, the shaman confidently said:

    "Randy Macho Man Savage!" and struck a macho pose.

    Smiling, he then offered me a cup of hot coffee.

    I was too stunned to say anything more

    For the rest of the afternoon.

    Years later, I still have dreams of shining Shee Yee

    Smashing writhing demons into blue turnbuckles,Watching next to a hundred smiling shamans in the audience.

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    DemocraciaFather was a tiger

    Ground beneath the wheels

    His fat was burned to light a torch

    But theres no liberty here

    Only the ashes of the village

    That couldnt evolve

    Where ghost grandchildren play with ghost grandparents

    And the parents are nowhere to be seen at all.

    Where have they gone? Where have they gone?A delay of a day for an idea, a delay of a lifetime

    for the dead upon the ground.

    Look, what remains-

    This hut hasnt the ambition of Ozymandias

    These craters were once a rice field

    This ox was no mans enemy

    And what we have left to say could explode any minute.

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    A Wat Is To TempleAs To Escape Is To SurviveAmong the many stone Buddhas

    A young monk's almond eyes stood out

    A bare-headed boy, slender and serene

    Clad in saffron, caught seconds before the next prayer

    Walking towards nirvana with a precocious smile

    I wondered if someday

    in a distant century

    we would see

    a statue of him

    paving the way

    for my children.

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    Todays Special at the Shuang Cheng Coated in caramelized salt:

    the suckers of a squid tendril

    diced into impotence

    between my chopsticksand baked

    they once clutched

    at an ocean

    writhing with life

    holding on to each precious bite.

    What will worms use

    to hold my bony handsif i don't let them

    throw me into the

    sea

    a handful of dust

    with a hint of squid flavoring.

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    New M yths of the Northern LandDream, I said,Arent you tired of making new legendsThat no one but I ever hears?

    Bones, she said,Arent you ever tired of asking questionsThat only I can answer?

    I went back to bed,Waiting for the new king to arrive,His talking mirror filled

    With dire pronouncements of flame.

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    InsomniacafeIf God with his hundred sacred namesmust caper aboutlike a young child full of infinity

    hiding among a blade of field grass,grey cathedral cornerstonesor the wizened hands of a stranger in Calcuttaovercome with kindnessin a cosmic gameof peek-a-boo,how can he hold a grudgeagainst those honest enough to say"I don't know if I've really seen him lately?"

    Lording over a cup of cappuccino

    like an Italian monk on watch at midnight,I wonder briefly if the faithful will have to sitin a corner of paradise for a whilefor perjury.

    With another sip,eyes wide as Darumaor some crazed cartoon cat,I wonder if I'll ever get to sleep this way...

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    An Archaeology of Snow FortsTheres not much left to be said

    That some well-washed stone hasnt heard before.

    History is composed of broken walls and bad neighbors,

    Just ask these chips from Berlin, the Parthenon and CathayOr these cool magma hands of Pompeii, dark and grey.

    If you listen carefully in the right place

    On University Avenue, you will learn

    There is a minor wall near the Yalu River

    Dancing on the hills of Qin for the moon,

    Who knows exactly what I mean

    In every tongue worth mention.

    Shes moonlighting as a curved garden serpentCoiling around old Laocoon,

    The Suspicious One with his astute eye,

    Crooning with a sly wink,

    Come, touch true history.

    And how the moon must laugh when she spies

    The tiniest hill in Minnetonka,

    Where the small hands of the earth have erected

    A magnificent white wall,A snowy miniature Maginot

    Raised some scant hours before,

    Already melting into a hungry, roiling river

    Who is not yet finished eating Louisiana for brunch.

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    LibertreeThe tree of liberty devours the loyal

    Grinding them between burning flag teeth and a ton of open doors.

    Blue lakes formed in the footprints of Babe

    While the trail of tears formed a bloody river.

    Washington had a thing for breaking cherry trees and raising hemp

    That was good for strong ropes to bind us all together

    In a frenetic world of neckties and necessities.

    No one knows the names of Afghan heroes or Hmong veterans

    Whose fathers raised opium crops now littered with landmines.

    Few can tell you where Russia is, even after fifty yearsOf cold wars in tropical nations they never vacationed in, personally.

    They would be unable to tell you how many of our allies are

    In an impossible debt, negotiating a cost-effective betrayal.

    But they can tell you about "Friends" and Miss October.

    Miscellaneous documents outlining

    Illiterate farmers with $200 anti-tank weapons

    Have surfaced to air our missile mania,

    A culture where no one sees the irony

    Of naming a million-dollar cruise missile

    After a tomahawk, while defanged reservations cope

    With under-funded schools.

    People laugh as immigrants report stories of American giants

    Who press you beneath their green thumbs stained with dollars

    When it's time to eat.

    Cannibalized ideas and epics lay exhausted, scattered apple-seeds

    In urban canyons formed by alien policies of war and leverage.And a great love of sequels.

    Half of the nation has never seen an orchard,

    Only the recycled city papers

    They are being ignored in as usual.

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    Somehow, the Cubans managed to preserve

    The purity of baseball and cigars

    While we still can't imagine the rules to Canadian curling,

    Despite our open borders.

    And strangely, when a laughing yellow cab driver

    Who was a former engineer from Iraq tells me about

    US chemical weapons and acid rain,

    I'm just not as surprised as I wish I could be.

    His last words rang like a cracked bell outside

    Of a smoking capitol of conspiracies:

    "When there's a new war, watch.

    A refreshing new ethnic restaurant will open in your neighborhood soon

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    Zh BjiTian Peng Yuan Shuai wasThe honored Grand Admiral of 800,000,Marshall of the Heavenly River.

    Under his proud hand,The enemies of the empire met doom by sea,Sinking beyond eye and history, or dying in mud, forgotten mayflies.To each their duty. Names for the victorious only.

    What his foes fought and died for, their societies of tools and song,Could be of no concern. Only tomorrow and blood, blade and command.

    For centuries there were no Chinese autobiographies.Only their commentaries on the words of war and state

    Applied.

    Paper and ink were holy here.

    All he truly saw, lost in the bureaucracy of testimonies.During his final peach banquet among the heavens, Change,Goddess of the moon,Was a beauteous guest before the splendors he preserved.

    Who would not be a fool before her?Who would not risk all for her attentions?

    To her, he was just another drunken butcher the empress rebuked.

    In apology, the admiral, abashed, resigned.To earth descending, to be a better legend.

    Later on some savage isle,The Lord of the Flies makes a meal of a boars head,Knowing nothing of Tian Peng Yuan Shuai,The lives he ended or the lives he led.

    One December morning,A poet waits for April in MinneapolisThinking of a pretty girl, a moon, a pig.

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    One Day

    Mother-in-law threw out the paper plate

    I wrote a poem on.

    What was it doing there in the first place?Was her first question.

    The next was: How good could it be,

    If it fit on just one?

    Too late, the trash-man has come by

    Leaving behind only an empty bin.

    Breakfast today was a McDonalds McMuffin,

    Her treat,

    As she eyed my wrapper suspiciously

    Between bites.

    How delicious it was!

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    About the AuthorBryan Thao Worra was born in 1973 in Laos duringthe Laotian civil war.

    He came to the US at six months old, adopted by a

    civilian pilot flying in Laos. Today, Bryan Thao Worra

    has a unique impact on contemporary art and literature

    within the Lao, Hmong, Asian American and the

    transcultural adoptee communities, particularly in the Midwest. In 2003, Thao Worra reunited

    with his biological family after 30 years during his first return to Laos.

    An award-winning poet, short story writer, playwright and essayist, his prolific work

    appears internationally in numerous anthologies, magazines and newspapers, including

    Bamboo Among the Oaks, Kartika Review, Tales of the Unanticipated, Astropoetica, IllumenOutsiders Within, Innsmouth Free Press, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Hyphen, Bakka,

    Whistling Shade, Journal of the Asian American Renaissance, and Asian American Press.

    He is the author of the books BARROW, On the Other Side of the Eye and Winter Ink.In 2009 he received an NEA Fellowship In Literature. Thao Worra curated numerous readings and

    exhibits of Lao and Hmong American art including Legacies of War: Refugee Nation Twin Cities(2010), Emerging Voices (2002), The 5 Senses Show (2002), Laod and Clear (2003), Giant LizardTheater (2005), Re:Generations (2005), and The Un-Named Series (2007).He speaks nationally at colleges, schools and community institutions including the Loft LiteraryCenter, Intermedia Arts, the Center for Independent Artists and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

    He has worked as an arts and cultural contractor for the Minnesota Historical Society, the

    Hennepin County Library System, the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, and the Minnesota

    State Arts Board.

    Thao Worra is working on his next books and several personal projects to reconnect expatriate

    Lao artists and writers with their contemporary counterparts in Laos following over 35 years of

    isolation.

    You can visit him online athttp://thaoworra.blogspot.comor [email protected]

    http://thaoworra.blogspot.com/http://thaoworra.blogspot.com/http://thaoworra.blogspot.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://thaoworra.blogspot.com/
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    WorkshopsYou can always request a workshop or presentation on specific topics, including:

    Southeast Asian Refugee Resettlement, Leadership and the ArtsCommunity History, Personal PoetryAsian American Activism and the Artistic VoiceChanging Cultures, Preserving Traditions: A Southeast Asian PerspectiveSoutheast Asian American Speculative Poetry: The Fantastic and the AmazingGrassroots Student Leadership and DiversityTranscultural Adoptee Art and ExpressionSecret Wars, Deeper TruthsEmerging Media: Challenges and Opportunities for the 21st Century Writer

    Excellent occasions to consider include:

    May Asian Pacific American Heritage Month CelebrationsSoutheast Asian / Southeast Asian American Cultural CelebrationsApril National Poetry Month EventsNovember National Adoption Month CelebrationsOctober National Arts and Humanities Month Events

    There are discounted rates available for schools and non-profit organizations.Please inquire at least 3 months in advance for the best rates.

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    Selected Awards and Recognition, 1991-2011 2011 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative .

    2010 Literacy Award, Lao Professionals of Illinois.

    2009 National Endowment for the Arts, Fellowship in Literature for Poetry. 2009 Asian Pacific Leadership Award, State Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans. 2008 Artists Initiative Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board. 2007 Career Initiative Grant, Loft Literary Center. 2005 Minnesota State Arts Board Cultural Collaboration Award with Mali Kouanchao. 2002 Minnesota Playwrights Center Many Voices Artist-In-Residence. 1994 Otterbein College Quiz and Quill Poetry Contest, First and Third Place. 1994 Otterbein College Quiz and Quill Walter Lowre Barnes Short Story Contest, First Place. 1994 Otterbein College Quiz and Quill Roy Burkhart Religious Poetry Contest, Second Place. 1993 Otterbein College Quiz and Quill Personal Essay Contest, First Place. 1993 Otterbein College Quiz and Quill Roy Burkhart Religious Poetry Contest, Second Place. 1991-1992 Otterbein College Quiz and Quill Poetry Contest, Second Place. 1991 James E. Casey Memorial Scholarship. 1991 Otterbein College Ammons-Thomas Award. 1991 National Honor Society Debra Kolander Service Scholarship, Saline High School.

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    Partial Publications List: 1999-2011BooksBARROW, Sams Dot Publishing, 2009

    Tanon Sai Jai, Silosoth Publishing, 2009

    Winter Ink, MN Center for Book Arts, 2008

    On the Other Side of the Eye, Sams Dot Publishing, 2007

    My Dinner w ith Cluster Bombs: The Tuk-Tuk Diaries, Unarmed Press, 2003

    Touching Detonations, E-book, Sphinx House Press, 2003

    Magazines, Journals and Anthologies The Spirit Catches You and You Get Body Slammed, et al. How Do I Begin?, Heyday Books, 2011Khop Jai For Nothing, Farangs, National Endowment for the Arts Writers Corner, 2010Home Is To Box As To Leave Is To Free, et al. Kartika Review, Spring 2010.The Last War Poem, Culture and Customs of Laos, Greenwood Publishing Group, March 2009Selves, Voyage, Grinding Up Stones,Spring 2009.Planting, Cha, February 2009.Burning Eden One Branch At A Time, Language For A New Century, Norton, 2008.Departures, Capital, et al. Journal for SE Asian American Education and Advancement, 2007Riding the 16, Modern Life, St. Paul Almanac, 2007.from five fragments In Our Own Words, Vol. 7, 2007.Dream, Rebellions,Zaj, Ntsuag Sings the Blues, Unplug, April/May 2007.Stairways In Luang Prabang, Nam, Sai Lao, Bakka Magazine, April 2007.The Deep Ones, Before Going Feral, Illumen, Spring 2007.To A Chinese Horse Behind Minneapolis Glass Papertiger: New World Poetry, Fall/WinterBoun, Jaew, and The National Library In Laos, Bakka Magazine, October 2006

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    Daughters of Barrabas, Poetry Midwest, Summer 2006A Question of Place Whistling Shade, Summer 2006Soap, An Archaeology of Snow Forts, and Homonculus, Tales of the Unanticipated #28

    Imperious, Whorl, Hyphen Magazine #9, Summer 2006The Kaiju & I 8-Poem Series, G-Fan Magazine #75, Spring 2006Evolve", The Outsiders Within Anthology, 2006"To A Chinese Horse Behind Minneapolis Glass, and "Babylon Gallery," Kaleidowhirl, Summer 2005A Hmong Goodbye, Poems Niederngasse, January/February 2005A Few Unexpected Sights at Tuol Sleng, Ithuriel's Spear, February 2005Song for a Sansei, Big Bridge #10, February 2005Snakehead, Peaks^ Literary Journal, January 2005The Shape, Paj Ntaub Voice Hmong Literary Journal, Winter 2004, p. 1"Dog Soldier Haiku," Mastodon Dentist, December 2004The Hermit Crab, Copacetic" and What Tomorrow Takes Away, Pedestal Magazine, November 2004Poultry Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, October 2004"Kingdoms" Tamafyhr Mountain Poetry #28, October 2004

    Midwestern Conversations, Out of Line, 2004Verbal Rorschach, Speakeasy Magazine, September 2004Insomniacafe, Real Eight View, October 2004The Big G, and "Secrets" Defenestration Magazine, September 20, 2004Questions," Discoveries," and "Understanding" Banned On These Premises Exhibition, August 2004Democracia, Perspectives, Riding The 16, The Talk, Iai Other Voices Int'l Poetry Project, 2004.Enso, Arbutus Journal, Winter 2004Kobe Hotel, and Oni, Big City Lit, February, 2004Mischief In The Heavens Defenestration Magazine, February 2004.Chances, Defenestration Magazine, January 2004.Todays Special At The Shuang Cheng, Mid-American Poetry Review, 2004, p. 46.

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    My Dinner W ith Cluster Bombs (The Tuk-Tuk Diaries), Unarmed Press Chapbook, 2003, 16 pp.A Song of Bangkok, Cascadia Review, December 2003Tetragrammaton, Stirring Journal, December 2003

    Champassak In January, Rock Salt Plum Journal, December 2003Surprises In America, London Ghetto Poets, December 2003Cocktail Napkins, Muse Apprentice Guild, December 2003Maidens of Sivilay, and Phonsavan, Mad Poets of Terra, October 2003Khaosan Road, 2003, and A Blessing Or A Curse. Whimperbang, Oct. 2003Little Bear, Astropoetica, Fall 2003Gallery 16: Zen of the Mouth, 2003, Urban Pioneer #4, Vol. II., 2003, p. 11The Temples, Paj Ntaub Voice, Summer 2003, p. 58The Spirit Catches You, And You Get Body Slammed, Paj Ntaub Voice, Summer 2003, p. 60Historys Game, Paj Ntaub Voice, Summer 2003, p. 73Voices, Urban Pioneer #2, Vol. I., 2002, p. 4Japonsime, Laoisme, Asian Pacific American Journal, Winter 2003, pp. 124-126Genesis 2020, Whistling Shade, Summer 2002, p. 3

    Incantation of a Hooligan, Unarmed #31, 2002, p. 6The Last War Poem Bamboo Among the Oaks, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2002, p. 98Fury Bamboo Among the Oaks, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2002, p. 100Wisdom Bamboo Among the Oaks, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2002, pp. 101-104Modern Life, Unarmed #29, 2002, p. 9The Serpent Under The Rainbow, Unarmed #25, 2002, p. 3Futura, Paj Ntaub Voice Hmong Literary Journal, Summer 2001, p. 14GPS, Paj Ntaub Voice Hmong Literary Journal, Summer 2001, p. 17Quixotes Jihad, Unarmed #23, 2001, p. 1My Autopsy, Thank You, Journal of the Asian American Renaissance, Winter 2001, p. 26Half The Battle, Journal of the Asian American Renaissance, Winter 2001, p. 45

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    Visual Silence, Paj Ntaub Voice Hmong Literary Journal, Winter 2001, p. 1Fury, Paj Ntaub Voice Hmong Literary Journal, Winter 2001, p. 45Nest Ce Pas Olympus, Whistling Shade, Winter 2001, p. 5

    Heresy To Shining See, Unarmed #20, 2001, p. 15Smoke Coil 2001, Unarmed #18, 2001, p. 4Naked, Paj Ntaub Voice Hmong Literary Journal, Summer 2000, p. 60Writers at War, Paj Ntaub Voice Hmong Literary Journal, Summer 2000, p. 66Raven Remembers, USAF Forward Air Controllers Website, Spring 1999

    Selected Short StoriesWhat Hides and What Returns, Historical Lovecraft, Innsmouth Free Press, 2011

    A Model Apartment, Innsmouth Free Press, Issue 4, 2010

    The Dog at the Camp, Tales of the Unanticipated, Autumn, 2006

    The True Tale of Yer, Bamboo Among the Oaks, MN Historical Society Press, 2002

    A Dream of Laaj, Paj Ntaub Voice, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2000

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    Selected Performances, 2005-2011Common Ground 1 Year Anniversary, VAALA Center, Santa Ana, CA, August 4 th, 2011

    Slice and Spice of Asia Storytelling, Brookdale Library, Brooklyn Center, MN, May 14th, 2011

    Beyond the Pure: Writers of Color Series, Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, MN, October 26th, 2010

    Lao Artists Festival, Elgin, IL, August 20-21st, 2010

    Lao American Writers Summit, Minneapolis, MN, August 15th, 2010

    Twin Cities Dragon Festival, St. Paul, MN, July 11th, 2010

    Family Style Open Mic, Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, PA, May 21st, 2010

    Otterbein College, Westerville, OH, February 25th, 2010

    Birchbark Reading Series, Birchbark Books, Minneapolis, MN, January 13th, 2010

    Kulture Trust Benefit, Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, MN, June 10th, 2009

    International Lao New Year, San Francisco, CA, April 11th, 2009

    Verse and Converse, Todd Boss Poetry Series, Ninas Caf, October 1 st, 2008

    UCSB Diversity Lecture Series, University of Santa Barbara Multicultural Center, Santa Barbara, CA, May 20th, 2008.Association of Asian American Studies Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL April 17-18th, 2008.

    American Intercultural Center Asian-Pacific-American Heritage Festival Celebration, UW-Green Bay, April 10th, 2008.

    Viterbo University, April 9th, 2008.

    Rhymefest, University of California, San Diego, CA, February 12, 2008.

    Un-Named Series of Hmong and Lao Writers, Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, MN, January 23, 2007.

    Giant Lizard Theater, Convergence, Minneapolis, MN, July 6, 2007.

    Tripmasters: Hmong and Lao Writers on a More Global Minnesota, Normandale Community College, March 28, 2007.

    Special Guest Speaker, Diversicon 14, Minneapolis, MN, August 11-13, 2006.

    Giant Lizard Theater, Convergence, Minneapolis, MN, July 6, 2006.

    Art And Diaspora Festival, Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, April 12, 2006.

    Keynote lecture, Taste of the Mountains Hmong Cultural Night Dinner, UW-Stevens Point, December 3, 2005.