To Be Positive

By : Chathudy Hilary Vang

It…

Taught me how to be
Oh so positive.
Making a dreadful day, turn upside down.
Creating pure gratifying thoughts in one’s head,
making us delighted for being Hmong.

It…

Told me to stop in action and drop all cruel things
and just carry on in this wild culture.

Being disguised so bright and beautiful on the outside
and looking so dark and brutal on the inside.
Sounding dreadful, like someone screaming in such great horror.

But then at first
we seek the odds,
and jolt the blessings, of being what we are.

In the vicinity of the present, we stand here,
like we’re at the edge of the cliff,
free of any…
Afflictions.