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Review for my poem,  Pride’s a Crime

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Fantastic Sophocles quotation, Malak, the Greeks were deeply concerned with the sin of hubris. You characterize it wonderfully as being obsessed with one’s own self-importance that disregards the interests of others.  This offends nature and God who will humble the prideful. Those humbled may feel the painful bite of pride and may learn the lessons of humility. They may escape the withering of their souls and find an honorable way to wear a halo, a crown of enlightenment and appreciation for life and love. This is a profound and dramatic poem, richly textured with powerful images and intense thoughts. Superb writing! By, Linda Powers O’Dell

Pride’s a Crime

‘The only crime is pride’*1, when
When pride is the downfall, felled,
Felled by man, we see his decimation,
Decimation as he’s devoured by a hen,
Hen of sin and self-importance,
Importance that s/he ram down,
Down your throat,  never being humbled
Humbled by GOD, nature, intelligence,
Intelligence that buries his/hers down,
Down, in a sepulchred abyss, distressed,
Distressed, as it tries to reach a crown,
Crown of enlightenment embossed,
Embossed by a halo of humbled appreciation,
Appreciation that lays down the might,
Might of pride that has a bite,
Bite, that leaves scars of imperfectioned
Imperfectioned mutations blackening
Blackening the soul that withers,
Withers from the lack of love,
Love, appreciation, honor, that grow,
Grow into a radiant sun.

©️ Malak kalmoni chehab ©️
1.Sophocles, Antigone

My poetry book,  Perfectly Flawed poetry for change,  is available on all eplatforms including Amazon.  It was on the finalist list for the Canadian Book Club Awards 2023.

https://www.amazon.ca/Perfectly-Flawed-poetry-Malak-Kalmoni/dp/1525582518

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Malak Kalmoni. Chehab An amazing, encouraging poem, Malak, wonderfully thoughtful and profound! Supposedly it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become really good at something. How reassuring it is to believe “abilities are transferable” and that one flight of excellence leads naturally to another. The racket sports are a fantastic case in point; they comprise a family of related skills that should inform each other in playing various racket games. Still, the techniques specific to each are impressive challenges to achieve. That said, the passing shot in all the racquet sports is a source of sublime confidence, a joy that can make one’s day as self-doubt is exiled. With success, one is prepared to win again playing all the games of life. This poem has an excellent form, four quatrains with a varying, creative rhyme scheme. Your images and rhythm are particularly effective as you logically develop your theme. I love how this poem not only looks authentically (I get the feeling you play tennis) and intensely at a group of sports, but also extends your insights to all the arenas of life. Fantastic poem, Brava!! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Racket Sports

From tennis, there’s squash, ping-pong
Badminton, now pickleball, paddle
All racquet sports with high intensity rattle
Where your strategy is what takes long

Hours to perfect alongside technique
That alters your muscle memory
For each individual sport that’s gory
If you mix and match the technique.

Yet, the beauty of playing the right
Passing shot lives in all, a feeling
Of supremacy that lights your flaying
Self-confidence, a boost that drowns the blight

Of self-doubt into an abyss that’s bright
For it engenders an acceptance
That your abilities are transferable, and once
You take note, your wins take flight.

©️ Malak kalmoni chehab ©️

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Accolade and Review for my poem,  Changing Light

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Hello Malak, this poem is a superb portrayal of how oppressive darkness, both literal and figurative, can be. So many obstacles try to defeat our confidence and faith in ourselves, all that we are. Whispers of doubt try to drown out the voice of our positivity. The light of darkness is a blight. However, as you say, the darkness “vainly” tries to drown us. If we change the light cast by our perspectives, our courage and determination will be renewed. Thank you for sharing this powerfully written poem. The images and vocabulary are phenomenal, dramatic and intensely moving! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Thank you Linda,  your inspiring words keep my writing from stagnating.

Changing Light

The oppressive darkness is bogged
With obstacles trying vainly to drown out
Your confidence, faith, substance,  all locked
Under the insidious susurations, waves with clout
To swamp your positivity, and submerge
Your power with darkest blight requiring light to change.

©️ Malak kalmoni chehab ©️

My poetry book,  Perfectly Flawed poetry for change,  is available on all eplatforms including Amazon.  It was on the finalist list for the Canadian Book Club Awards 2023.

https://www.amazon.ca/Perfectly-Flawed-poetry-Malak-Kalmoni/dp/1525582518

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Review for my poem,  The Syren’s Serenade

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Beautifully epic, Malak,  the serenades of the sirens resound throughout your splendid poem with stories of lost heroes and “outrageous quests.”  Your opening image of the sirens singing to the waves is exquisite; a symphony raving about a moonlit sky filled with stars is the perfect setting for the dramas you describe. Songs of dangerous traps, of terror and regret, survivor’s guilt, sagas of faith fighting despair, of gratitude for happiness, all call to sailors only wishing for the peace of home. For this they are willing to brave the fight. Perhaps following the syrens’ call to fight led them away from home in the first place. I love how you describe the content of the syrens’ songs.This makes your poem profoundly meaningful, and suggests the songs and stories we hear are the ones we tell ourselves, listen to and decide to believe and follow. Congratulations on this amazing, significant poem!! By Linda Powers O’Dell

The Syren’s Serenade

The syren serenades the waves
To a symphony of tunes that raves
About the moonlit sky filled with stars
Telling stories of outrageous quests

Some for saving loved ones as they traips
Into dangerous mountains, never fails
To entertain, garner emotional travails
Of terror, survival, guilt, regret for losses quails

The strength of faith, Belief in the quests,
Yet, they listen to the serenade of nights
Filled with wild sounds, crackling fires, that fights
The darkness of despair’s hold that blights

Happiness’ divinity that always gladdens
The soul in gratitude for the simple gardens
That grow In eternal darkness within heaven’s
Parade of scintillating beauties that never listens

To the cry of those sailors whose homes
Are all they wish for, for there peace comes
Within the arms of loved ones whose
Love, empathy bind them to the cause,

A cause whose tides rise in the night
But caress the shore In the fight
For taking a stand with humanity
Never resting till peace isn’t wishful thinking.

©️Malak kalmoni chehab ©️

My poetry book,  Perfectly Flawed poetry for change,  is available on all eplatforms including Amazon.  It was on the finalist list for the Canadian Book Club Awards 2023.

https://www.amazon.ca/Perfectly-Flawed-poetry-Malak-Kalmoni/dp/1525582518

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Review for my poem,  The Imaginary Train

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab awesome imagery. Love the picture you paint of nature being more beautiful than the finest jewels. By, Karen Burns

Absolutely cracking writing! No stopping! I see a scarred old steam train overcoming every obstacle put in it’s path until  finally crawling into the welcome of the silent shunting shed. Brilliant! By, Chris Wager

The Imaginary Train

The antique train whose trim
Of burnished wood shone against
The moonlight perpetrating its glam
Exterior with inner luxury at the behest
Of imagination that couldn’t rest.

The marvels of crystal chandeliers
Hanging over dining areas stupefy
The onlooker with wealth that prospers
Through diamond necklaces dangling in hefty
Abundance with gold on skin that’s shiny.

My eyes stray to windows whose glare
Of the lover’s moon is framed
In a beauteous flame that’ll revere
The scene unfolding in a dreamed
Opulent night littered with star-studded

Light of glittery jewels that put
Diamonds, rubies, sapphires, to shame
As the light blinds your eyes and cut
The veil of imagination by rendering it lame
In the presence of nature’s magic that’s aflame.

Let the train take you on its journey,
The journey of life that twists,  turns,
Dips, and rises to all occasions with a flurry
Of activity that glories fighting pains,
Overcoming obstacles as small as grains.

©️ Malak kalmoni chehab ©️

My poetry book,  Perfectly Flawed poetry for change,  is available on all eplatforms including Amazon.  It was on the finalist list for the Canadian Book Club Awards 2023.

https://www.amazon.ca/Perfectly-Flawed-poetry-Malak-Kalmoni/dp/1525582518

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Review for my poem,  Free in Space

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab this is so so beautiful Malak. But I had to read it twice to take in all its wonders. Some words I haven’t heard in a life time. So beyond intelligent, I thought I had to get the dictionary out hehe. Love this. I certainly was in space or a space codect reading this the first time lol. Brilliant and stunning write my dear friend. ☺️☺️☺️ I’m blown away as always by your poems. Thank you . By, Natasha  Brown

Free in Space

She soars free into space
Her raven black hair flows
Like wings behind her as she thrown
Her head back in appreciation, grace

And contemplation of the woes
Left behind as she raises her arms
Back in a dancer’s pose covered in sheer palm’s
Leaves in bronze, contrasting with black sky that rose

In stars and blots of light
Surrounding her lovingly
As harmony from within translates outwardly
And brightens the sky in a spotlight

Of infinite possibilities as imagination
Takes a deep dive into the stratosphere
Hugging her form in jewels that peer
Into her soul, ready to steal her fraternization

With a world in chaos, yet she imposes
Her absolute wonder with the simplicity
She reduces the world for her to flee captivity
Of depravity’s prison, shakles like roses.

©️ Malak kalmoni chehab ©️

My poetry book,  Perfectly Flawed poetry for change,  is available on all eplatforms including Amazon.  It was on the finalist list for the Canadian Book Club Awards 2023.

https://www.amazon.ca/Perfectly-Flawed-poetry-Malak-Kalmoni/dp/1525582518

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Certificate of Excellence for my poem,  Hidden Garden

Thank you for the honor and your hard work.

Hidden Garden

‘In the garden where secrets grow,
Colors dance in a vibrant show’
As secrets grow in each blossom
Where rainbowed hues bloom

In varieties that astound the eye
Hidden from the sight of those who fly
By seeing only tangible beauty, while
This garden can only be perceived with the guile

Of childhood’s ingenuity that discerns
Patterns unseen by those whose senses
Have dulled with time. So, the child finds
The key that opens a doorway to gardens

Of Eden where the flytrap behaves
Like a pet, while the Cobra Lily heaves
Bubbles filled with rainbows that strive
To seep into the world with endless hope to give

The Death Camasa flair of colored scents
Dazzle the olfactory glands in a bid to circumventing
Its natural toxicity, for the child only sees beauty
While adults fear the unknown blindly.

©️ Malak kalmoni chehab ©️
My poetry book,  Perfectly Flawed poetry for change,  is available on all eplatforms including Amazon.  It was on the finalist list for the Canadian Book Club Awards 2023.

https://www.amazon.ca/Perfectly-Flawed-poetry-Malak-Kalmoni/dp/1525582518

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Puzzle poem turned into song, Oh October

My part in the song:

Oh, October, your harvest prospers
With each passing day, leaves flame
Into red, gold, green, as they came
Bringing the season of thanks to preen like corn poppers.

©️ Malak kalmoni chehab ©️

The link to the poem that was a bricolage of poets writing about the importance of October.  My part is above. I hope you enjoy this rendition of our poetic abilities.

My poetry book,  Perfectly Flawed poetry for change,  is available on all eplatforms including Amazon.  It was on the finalist list for the Canadian Book Club Awards 2023.

https://www.amazon.ca/Perfectly-Flawed-poetry-Malak-Kalmoni/dp/1525582518

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Dr7x8iQ5Q/

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Group chain poem

🎉HI POETS! HERE’S OUR
                         GROUP CHAIN POEM!! 🎉

Thank you for participating in this 700-year-old tradition of collaborative chain poetry. Some of the lines were posted as Comments rather than Replies, so I have taken the liberty of organizing the lines in a way that seems coherent. The words are still all yours. Many thanks to Tom Cleary for so generously providing our first line.

TRAPPED UNDER THE CAR OF LIFE

Trapped under the car of life
While wheels churn through rough terrain,
Shifting gears like electric clouds clash
Dodging boulders, as fearful of impending crash,
The mark of wheels get washed by rain.

Hiding from life’s trouble and strife
Cheek turned from screeching tyre
A child cowering from the rain under
          an old oak tree
Afraid of wetting his world with nature’s tears
Seeking the road that finds us all.

Dodging reckless drivers yet putting trust
          in a higher power
Sleeping policeman  speed   bump
          gonna smash my brain
Dash, smash, crash into the wheels of life
           that are crass!
Knife under seat to cut my belt, jaws of life
           is coming to help
It now seems time is finite or so I fear.

Perhaps we pass while still unknown
Like ships that drift alone
All that is will perish with or without fear
All of us travel together to reach
         the final destination.

Shangri-La where the air is pure
And the rain is still wet, yet,
         Its rainbows are the cure
Finding the love beyond all recalling.

©️ 2026 Tom Cleary, Imelda Garcia, Karin J. Hobson, Karen Burns, Madhura Mitra, George Valler, Zac Warden, James Alexander Crown, Ugochukwu Asiegbu, Douglas Penn, Carol Lease, Leon Vander-Molen, Malak Kalmoni. Chehab, Neal Klein, Dave Ismay, George Valler, Lorna J McLaren,  Celeste Quackenbush, Jyothi Bhagawat, Terry Bridges, Malak Kalmoni, Chehab, Linda Powers O’Dell.

My poetry book,  Perfectly Flawed poetry for change,  is available on all eplatforms including Amazon.  It was on the finalist list for the Canadian Book Club Awards 2023.

https://www.amazon.ca/Perfectly-Flawed-poetry-Malak-Kalmoni/dp/1525582518

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Review for my poem, Fall Play

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab How delightful, a glorious description of the joys of fall! The crunching leaves, the brilliant colors, Halloween, the excitement of the cooler season. Excellent rhymes and rhythm, onomatopoeia, and vibrant images. 🍁 Malak, I hope you’ve already joined our new group, Invisible Poets Core. It is for serious poets who are dedicated to poetry and you are certainly such a poet.  🤗💗  By, Linda Powers O’Dell

Thank you for the kind encouraging words that elevate my writing.

#musette
Fall Play

Fall’s here
Let the leaves
Crunch hall

All kids
To play scary
Booooo! Ooooohhhhhs

Colors
Bright as the sun
Mix’n plays

Pumping
Adrenaline
All day’n.
©️Malak kalmoni chehab ©️

My poetry book,  Perfectly Flawed poetry for change,  is available on all eplatforms including Amazon.  It was on the finalist list for the Canadian Book Club Awards 2023.

https://www.amazon.ca/Perfectly-Flawed-poetry-Malak-Kalmoni/dp/1525582518