This April the Lao community is celebrating the arrival of Year of the Tiger as part of our traditional new year in Laos and across the United States. This is a year characterized by good fortune and bold opportunities, and we hope that many of our readers will find that in their lives in the coming months ahead as we get closer to the 50th anniversary of Lao in the United States.
Lao American poet Bryan Thao Worra recently composed three poems for the occasion. The author of the 2020 collection Before We Remember We Dream he is currently collecting personal stories and memories of our community across the globe and around the world. This year will also be the final year he serves as the president of the international Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.
The longest poem in this trio explores a memory of his family sending money to friends and relatives through Western Union, which recently began a campaign to raise awareness of their expanded services to Laos through Walmart and their app. Western Union began in 1851, and now provides services to every country except Iran and North Korea.
We hope you enjoy these poems!
Welcoming the Tiger
Whether in America or dreaming Vientiane,
Every tiger begins as a gentle kitten:
Learning and growing, sometimes growling,
At times playful as a rabbit or full of cunning,
Other days legendary, and some days a comedy
So silly we must laugh aloud, like a new year
Arriving with good company, a blessing like family
Helping each other across the miles with a smile,
The way it should be, moments worth 10,000 memories,
Unique and worth seeking as our true tales together begin.
New Year Haiku, 2022
Helpful like tigers
We smile, transforming our worlds
Joys shared gladly
Year of the Tiger, Laomerican Style
If mom had her way, she’d help everyone back home,
From the edges of famed Luang Prabang
To our old neighborhood in bustling Vientiane,
The one just past Wat Mixay near Ban Inpaeng,
Even as far as Savannakhet, Champasak and Pakse.
Every other day she’ll ask my sisters and I
To help her send something again by Western Union
To friends and family in Laos and farther away,
Especially during the new year or any holiday.
Some we’ve met before, others are quite new,
But what are you going to do?
It’s her way of remembering our community
That raised her to tend the future generously.
“In America, you can dream of a thousand things
You’ll do with liberty, but what good are they
Without reaching for a tomorrow worth having?”
It’s been decades since she’s been back, like many.
Time is such a relentless tiger by the fragrant river waiting.
But mother spent her life teaching us to never hesitate,
To seek to help in even the smallest ways, in every moment.
Each infinite in potential, kind as an April day full of harmony,
A million friendly sabaidees.
