Tag: accolade

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Accolade and Review for my poem,  Of All the Masks We Wear

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Fantastic poem, Malak, you’ve hit on an essential truth! We all have secrets, at least I don’t know anyone who doesn’t. Consequently, we develop strategies, masks to hide those secrets from others and from ourselves as well. You ask such important questions, e.g., how afraid are we of exposing ourselves, what harm does hiding do, how do we manage to conceal ourselves?  You suggest that although it takes time, we need to trust ourselves and others who reciprocate our trust. We can find a way to share more of who we are, which means we can get to know ourselves better. Simultaneously, you caution that we must be wary of those who would negate us, of the depraved who destroy humanity in their lust for power. Oh, the masks that sort wears! This is a superb poem, so deeply thoughtful and encouraging. To know ourselves is a lifelong project, but a most worthy and rewarding pursuit. Brava! By, Linda Powers O’Dell

I’m honored,  humbled by your words and thank you for the continuous inspiration to do better.

Of All the Masks we wear

The masks we wear help us hide
Those parts that are vulnerable
Until the fear of being hurt fade.
It secretes your emotions to keep away trouble.

How do you conceal who you are?
How many facets do you portray?
How bearable is life without it thus far?
How is the fear of being exposed flay?

Those answers are subjective and need
Time to elucidate the importance of trust
That is reciprocated and revered.
Balance your fear and your extrovert in a bust

That embodies fears, ambitions, and beliefs
That make it difficult to be a part of the streams.
Streams and trends imposing briefs
That you can’t achieve what they preach as they screams

For total erasure of self-identy
Replaced by their surrogate perspectives
They want to rule the world through depravity
That destroys humanity that endless gives.

©️ 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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Accolade and Review for my poem,  Pumpkin

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab  A riddle poem that provides the answer is like a delightful Thanksgiving gift! Malak, your descriptions are so heartwarming, they evoke beautiful memories of past celebrations. From a princess’ coach, to a scarecrow, to a pie shared by a joyful family, to a jack-o-lantern conjuring the scary fun of ghosties, you make the hearty, healthy pumpkin the hero of your poem. How elegantly you create these images! What a beautifully written tribute! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Thank you Linda for your encouraging words that inspire greater creativity.

Pumpkin

Who am I?
I’m orange, oblong, striped,
And used by Cinderella’s
Fairy godmother in a chariot
Fit for a princess!

Who am I?
I’m still orange, some yellow,
Others green and pear like,
I’m used with a scarecrow
To scare off birds and scavengers, kite
Like in their freedom to perch, alone.

Who am I?
I’m the perfect accoutrement
To Thanksgiving dinners with
Joy, appreciation, laughter that comment
On the importance of being together with our breath
Mingling with loved ones in a moment we treasure.

Who am I?
I’m the unsung hero of Thanksgiving
Used in sweet and savory dishes
Used as a lamp for decoration of living
Homes who create a world of grinches,
Monsters, ghosts, and gools for entertaining.

©️ 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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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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Accolade and Review for my poem,  Rage, Rage

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Such a powerful, thoughtful provoking poem, Malak! Our best values too often take a back seat, are put on a back burner, while fear and anger rule. Congratulations on a profound poem! By, Linda Powers O’Dell

Rage, Rage …

“Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”¹
Pray that it helps you stave off the blight.

What courage you lacked in life, use to survive
The rending of your soul into an abyss that’s alive
With darkness, depression, hurt, pain, and ruin.

Strugle against succumbing into oppression
Of a world that dictates perfection when its application
Of destruction is an overwhelming aberration of nature.

Humanity’s need to have compassion in its revision
Of the betterment of itself and its eternal vision
Of empathy, equality, love, success, and understanding.

They seem to be relegated to a back burner
While the propagation of fear of many a hater
Abound in a world where the unknown is its only reason for existing.

Media and social media disseminate and foster
The requirements to strike at terror and its founder,
But, ironically, terror sells and peace dies!

What about you? The reader and audience,
What’s your stance on struggling?
Give up or take a forcefull stance?

©️ Malak kalmoni chehab ©️
¹ Dylan Thomas

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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4th place for my poem, ode to Josephine Gomez

Thank you for the honor and your hard work.  A tribute to a multitalented woman.

Josephine Gomez

A Tsunami like no other has swept
Civilization’s imprint on land in waves that crept
At impossible heights, pounding
Into cities, ravaging

All within its reach, a name,
Gomez, Josephine stands like a flame
For truth, honesty, equality never
Letting criticism stall her voice fly forever

Into the minds of those whose
Open minds let it seep in, smolder as trends.

©️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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Accolade and Review for my poem,  Why Am I a Fairytale?

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab This is a superb and thought provoking poem, Malak, every fairy tale is a battle between good and evil. We often focus on the heroes and heroines, but as your poem wonderfully points out, there are villains to be considered: villagers who attack the Beast’s castle, an evil queen who Snow conquers with the help of her peers, the dwarfs. With Peter Pan you broaden your perspective; there are pirates who would force us to give in to fear, to grow up as we abandon flights of imagination. Your last stanza fantastically imagines a tale inspiring us with an appreciation of beauty. This is a fabulous idea!! I so hope you will write one. You’ve set my imagination ablaze trying to think what a tale like this might be. Congratulations on your structure here, your images and rhymes! Excellent poem!! By, Linda Powers O’Dell

I’m honored and humbled by your inspiring words. Thank you

Why Am I a Fairytale?

Who’s the villain in my fairytale?
How do I identify the many who prey
On the defenseless victims as play?
A game of power that’ll flay?

If I were Belle, then the villagers
Are villains who are traipse, conquerers
Who impose their opinions, dominators
Against the struggle to be unique, not subjugators.

If I were Snow White, peers would
Be the plight I fight against that could
Win against the rulers, powers that should
Protect not project dissention and division.

If I were Peter Pan, then all those
Who demand the destruction of imagination’s prose
Are villains who superimpose
The need for lambs not lions.

If I were a new fairytale
My character would draw a tale
Of impossible appreciation of beauty that never fail
To send my senses into a new veil.

©️ 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, Who’s Wo(Man)

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab This is a powerful, important poem, Malak. Your use of parentheses drives home the equality of the genders in a wonderfully original and thoughtful way. When we think of how far we have to go, despite the evolution of the gender battles, it can be dispiriting. Your poem, however, is full of determination and faith in the strength of women. You point out their ability to complete “in all domains,” while unfairly struggling to be superb at both work and home. Your rhymes here (AABBCC….) are quite wonderful, as is your rhythm.  Excellent poem! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Thank you for the wonderful accolade.

Who’s Wo(Man)

I’m a wo(man) of great potential
But the (man) thought to keep her special
Brand of strength hidden from neighbors
As the wo(man’)s  abilities grew like robbers
Of the man’s by competing in all domains,
Yet, still the wo(man) struggles and strains
To balance home and work without
Compromising either. Alas, it’s no wonder the bout
Of battles of the genders has evolved,
Now wo(man) can be either or, and devolved.

©️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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Accolade for my poem,  Energy

Thank you for the honor and your hard work.

Energy

Everything gives off energy,
People give out vibes that are clingy
To their character, soul, and humbly
Vibrate at a frequency that’s seemly.


 Plants, shrubs, and trees are no different.
 Have you stood by vegetation not cement?
  Felt the energy emanating in a vent,
  Reaching out to reduce anxiety onto a splint?


As my tactile senses overtake me,
I feel energy all around me:
People, cars, trees, parks are tame
And engrossed in a game that’s not lame.

As I touch a living plant, I feel
     Its need to enrobe me in its touch,
     Its simplicity and innocence that fill
     My fingertips with a current that’s a badge

Of honor, as not all have the same
Level of sensitivity to fall under
The wonderment of nature’s thrall, and name
Man as its destroyer without any rancor.
            

The life force, energy, magnetic field
Are all one and the same, as each 

Creature emanates a void that embraced
Its emptiness by acknowledging its existence.

©️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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Accolade and Review for my poem, Funny Sunday

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Wow, this amazing poem is full of surprises! A sunny Sunday afternoon wedding becomes a fascinating riot of bizarre characters. Ghouls and ghosts, pirates and parrots, and Dracula intend to attack the groom, make the bride walk the plank. But here comes witchy Jane, not Tarzan, to the rescue with a cauldron full of magic. Congratulations, Malak, on such an impressive, imaginative poem! Your images, alliteration, rhymes and rhythm are so vivid and exciting! I love that you ironically set this scene in a sunny day. To me, this entrancing narrative can be understood as a potentially humorous metaphor for marriage, but that may taking my interpretation too far. Thank you for sharing this brilliant poem! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Funny Sunday

On a sunny Sunday afternoon
Their wedding Masquerade in bloom,
People dressed glowing like the moon,
While the bride and groom

Joined them in their masked
Costumes, white from head to toe,
Shiny raven black, not a crow, but a bow tied
To suffocate instead of decorate the flow.

As they enter, ghouls and ghosts
Creep in droves, while Dracula drools
Over the succulent live meals in hosts,
Pros, Neffertiti, doctors, astronauts, all in pools

Surround the bride in fear as they
Prey on the dark dressed groom, whose
Tux became fodder for pirates, parrots play
Their roles driving the bride over plank in pose

Of defeat, death, depravity has no end.
But, wait! Who’s there? What’s that?
The bride swings from trees, Jane, whose bend
Of hand holds arms of freedom in a vat,

A cauldron where newt guts, brains
Of vultures, nightshade, blood that overflows
As it bublles up, swallows all it touches, cranes
Its flow into corners not to miss any blows.

Watch the witchy, whaling, warbling,
Black pointed hat flying into the air
Sprinkling her brew that’s consuming
All in a blinding jiffy like a pair in flair.


©️ 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 and Accolade for my tanka poem,  Contentment

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab What a charming and profound tanka! How true it is, the laughter of children can be a balm for any broken soul. You’ve created a wonderful progression of ideas, Malak. The first line sets your theme; we are ready to feel peace. Then happiness is followed by its cause, the sparkling eyes of kids and their laughter. The feeling of brokenness is soothed by coming last. This progession is elegant and sophisticated. Wonderful poem! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Tanka

Contentment

Peace falls in your heart
As you look on happiness
In the eyes of kids
Whose laugh is a balm on your
Broken soul needing soothing.

©️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