[4] With Tripas, a Spanish word that "can mean ‘tripe’, ‘intestines’, ‘innards’, ‘trivia’ or the pages of a document," Som addresses both sides of his background.

In addressing his multicultural background, Som's broader themes for the book include diaspora, language, globalization, and capitalism.

[4] In an interview with The Hopkins Review, Som remarked on the communal and cultural influences of the book's poems: "They were made in conversation and in translation with members of my family.

And they are also attuned to popular and public forms of artistic expression: Ranchera music, Hong Kong and Mexican Cinema, Day of the Dead processions, ofrendas and lowriders, and the murals of José Clemente Orozco and Judy Baca."

[8] London Review of Books wrote "Tripas belongs to the literature of the border and the Southwest, to the still under-studied poetics of the polyglot melting pot.