August 2023 Video Recap

Because August was Lao American Artists Heritage Month, I presented 15 poems as we remembered August 15th, which marked 50 years since the Case-Church Amendment went fully into force following the Paris Accords and ended US financial and material support in Laos and Cambodia.?

My thanks as always to everyone who supports this work and shares your favorite poems with friends, family and colleagues.?

I have endeavored to model what it means to share poetry and our memories and imagination, not only in the US but across the globe where, often, emerging poets think you need a particular permission or occasion to share art, or that it must be absolutely perfect in its content and production values to have significance or merit for its presentation.

The complete American Laodyssey workprint?

"For the Friend Who Will Never Read This," Lake Superior?

"Jai Gai Nyai," Milwaukee, WI?

"An Exchange in Ukiah, CA, 2558," Superior, WI?

"Her Body, My Monuments," Leif Eriskon Park, Duluth, MN?

"A Preface to Lao Silences," Woodstock Bay, WI?

"My Secret War Within," Edon, OH?

"DemocraCIA," Wausau, WI?

"The Last War Poem," Arlington Cemetery

"The Last War Poem," Sheboygan, WI?

"To Hear Some Accounts," North Shore, MN?

"Naiku Cycle," Lake Superior?

"Viewpoints," Lake Superior

"A Good Poem," McQuade's Harbor

"New Myths of the Northen Land, Duluth, MN"?

This month, I think my favorite videos were those at the various monuments and memorials in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Washington D.C. that commemorate the US Secret War in Laos, even as I also feel a certain regret that I'm almost certainly the first poet who read their own poetry here first, without formal events or ceremonies being a part of that experience. Maybe one day that will change, and we might well live in that interesting world where you never quite know if you're going to run into a poem or not, if you visit at just the right time and place...

For those curious: The majority of these videos were shot on a Canon HFR800 with a Rode Wireless Go II and edited in Filmora and Audacity. In terms of poet technology, I prefer these to results I get from cell phones because the devices are designed and dedicated to this purpose, even as I know the Google Pixel 6A I'm using does have some very good technology that's at least 4 years newer than the 2017 HFR800. But I'm always interested in hearing suggestions or recommendations for different equipment or software to try!

For videos filmed and produced in Minnesota: Bryan Thao Worra is a fiscal year 2023 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.