Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Wow, Malak, congratulations on such a powerful, historical poem! The state oppressing the people is an ages old story, but you make it come completely and authentically alive. Your images are quite extraordinary, beautiful in their precision and force. Gut-wrenching and heart breaking, this amazing poem speaks to the pain of cruel injustice. I believe this is an extremely important poem and should be widely read wherever apartheid held or is holding sway, wherever its effects are still felt. Bravo!!! 👏👏👏 by: Linda Powers O’Dell
War’s ABCs
Arms, armor, tanks, drones,
Bombs explode in streets where
Children, women, elderly
Dive for protection from shrapnel
Entering organs, amputating limbs,
Fearing the fiery hell they hide in homes
Gravely hazardous for their foundation
Has been shaken by continuously
Imploding heat, vibrations from bombs
Jumping into their perimeter to
Keep natives from procreating and
Living lives in harmony that traverses
Many generations, cut by decimation of
Numerous family trees buried under ruins
Omnifarious combining rubble, dead bodies,
Petrification of survivors, amputees, whose
Quandary lies in how to survive the guilt
Restricting each breath they take while
Seeming to live, while knowing the
Truth about the transience of life
Under occupation, Apartheid,
Vainly holding onto their tattered,
Wasteland of a broken open air prison.
©️ 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
Poetry for Change 