Farah Lawal Harris 11/16/24 Farah Lawal Harris 11/16/24

From Busy to Well: How Cancer Taught Me to Truly Live

Cancer forced my life into stillness. In that quiet, I noticed the silence of artistic colleagues who knew I was sick but never reached out. I felt the emptiness of achievements that once seemed so important when my health was on the line. Slowly, I shifted my focus inward, learning to embrace the profound value of family and spirituality over the external validation I once chased.

Farah Lawal Harris 9/24/24 Farah Lawal Harris 9/24/24

MY GREATEST EXTRAVAGANCE

My greatest extravagance is time,

therefore I take mine.

Farah Lawal Harris 9/10/24 Farah Lawal Harris 9/10/24

IT IS TRUE (Poem)

Until cancer,

I constantly questioned myself

and doubted her.

Farah Lawal Harris 9/2/24 Farah Lawal Harris 9/2/24

GIVE THANKS (Poem)

Be grateful for

soft, warm flesh on chests, for

God-given armor guarding hearts, for

nipples that get hard when cold.

Farah Lawal Harris 8/31/24 Farah Lawal Harris 8/31/24

DIARY ENTRY from June 17, 2024

Anger is my birthright,

but so is peace.

I remind myself

of the highest version of me,

slowly morph into her

Farah Lawal Harris 8/8/24 Farah Lawal Harris 8/8/24

“You Should Write a Book!”

If God granted me $5 every time someone told me I should write a book about my journey through breast cancer, I’d be able to buy a new pair of retro Nike Jordan 4’s by now. How do you write about a journey that is not over?

Farah Lawal Harris 4/27/24 Farah Lawal Harris 4/27/24

PEDUNCLES (Poem)

Static fills my right hip, crrrrsppppp crrrrsppppp!

Begging for a kiss, a loosening.

Despite her shallow roots, my Hoya Hindu rope

has grown peduncles—

Farah Lawal Harris 4/25/24 Farah Lawal Harris 4/25/24

THE HAPPIEST PLACE (Poem)

I stare at the sky

and instead of asking “Why?”

I whisper, “Thanks”

and drop tears as tithes.

Farah Lawal Harris 4/17/24 Farah Lawal Harris 4/17/24

DREAMERHEAD

Bald head, chemo girl ain’t had no hair to curl

threw up, grew up, I just bout glew up

Needed to stop the inner control freak

Stopped drumming for a while, let God control the beat.

Farah Lawal Harris 4/16/24 Farah Lawal Harris 4/16/24

LAYING ON MY BACK

On my chest sit

bags of sand.

Almost 40-year-old version,

me with artificial titties.

Farah Lawal Harris 4/4/24 Farah Lawal Harris 4/4/24

PEARL FISH

I am like a pearl fish.

I swam in treacherous waters,

Nigerian-American daughter.

A thick black-girl child ain’t safe

in an ocean full of sharks!

Farah Lawal Harris 4/3/24 Farah Lawal Harris 4/3/24

THE QUEEN’S DANCE

The queen danced to Queen. Rebirthed and free she felt, shaking her jelly cuz jam don’t shake like that. Fear don’t shake like that. Thank God the vinyl record didn’t scratch. Box braids in a bun bouncing, beat face pronouncing the announcement that…