From Coast to Coast

By Abrahim Harb

Trading in subway rides for bike rides –
Trading in a 4th floor apartment without an elevator for something more manageable –
Trading in life without needing a car for life most likely needing a car –
Trading in snow worn concrete for sun soaked concrete –
Trading in a short season for sweater weather for a longer season of sweater weather –
          (Trading their cold weather heavy wardrobe for lighter layers, if you’re asking me…)

Trading Broadway for beaches –
Trading in Saturday walks across the Brooklyn Bridge for Saturday hikes in the El Cajon Mountains –
Trading in Prospect Park for Balboa Park –
Trading in Fort Hamilton for Naval Base San Diego –
Trading in the Brooklyn Museum of Art for the San Diego Museum of Art –
Trading in bodega’s for markets –
Trading in late night $1 slices of New York pizza for California style pizza –
Trading in hot dogs, bagels, and deli sandwiches for fish tacos, oysters, and carne asada burritos –
          (Trading one foodie city for another, if you’re asking me…)

Trading summer trips to upstate New York for summer trips to Mexico –
Trading in Manhattan and Staten Island for Chula Vista and La Mesa –
Trading New Jersey and Philadelphia for Arizona and Nevada –
Trading in flights clocking in at 2 hours and 30 minutes from LGA for 4 hour flights from SAN –
Trading in the city that never sleeps for a city where the sun never stops shining –
          (Just like the famous saying - if they can make it there, they can make it anywhere…)

To My Children…

By Abrahim Harb

I’ll be watching you from somewhere near the sun –
Don’t lose your smile –
And after a while, go have some fun.

You are born – and at some point,
your maker converts your mission –
It is no longer earthbound –

It’s the circle of life.
Ashes to ashes.
Dust to dust.

No matter what earthly success I have accrued –
None of it matters, bid it adieu.
Because I’ve started brand new.
Mourn my transition to guardian angel.

To All the African-American Women of the Past, Present, and Future…

By Abrahim Harb

I have been daydreaming about history again.

Later that night, I found a pen and paper –
At first, I go off memory, but quickly expand to web research.

To Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, Angela Davis, and Marsha P. Johnson…
For teaching us that we are not powerless in the face of uncertain political landscape –

To Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Dr. Christine Darden…
For teaching us about patience and understanding our value because hidden figures are eventually revealed –

A house built in 1955 was her childhood home

By Abrahim Harb

44 years are uncounted for out of the 64 year history of this building.

There must be some be a box packed away in a storage unit with the history of the unaccounted years.

From the street, you can see the front door, stairs, porch and 3 front windows;

(She has a flashback to the one evening where her dog was perched at the top of the stairs like a gargoyle guarding a castle during a summer hangout.)