His collections include The Tribute Horse (2014) and Tripas: Poems (2023), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2024.

He is an associate professor of literature and creative writing at the University of California, San Diego.

[4][6] From 2013 to 2014, Som was a dissertation fellow at the Center for Transpacific Studies at USC Dornsife.

[4][8] His first complete collection of poems, The Tribute Horse, was published in 2014,[9][10] winning the Kate Tufts Discovery Award in 2015.

[13][14] The Pulitzer credit said the book "deeply engages with the complexities of the poet's dual Mexican and Chinese heritage, highlighting the dignity of his family's working lives, creating community rather than conflict".