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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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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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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,  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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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

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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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Review for my poem, One, Two

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab  This is a thrilling, ethical poem, Malak, a powerful protest against genocide, inequality, and domination. Your righteous anger is brilliant. We need poems like this in the world, or rather, the world needs a kick in the arse like this poem. You’ve created a fantastic form that swells and diminishes; it’s perfect for describing how “a rebellious rage” against injustice and subjugation builds and builds and then acts to restore peace.
Your line syllable count,
1,1,2,3,5,8,16,18, 8, 5, 3, 2, 2, 1,1,
is dramatic and visually appealing. Brava! By, Linda Powers O’Dell

Thank you for the encouraging words.

One, Two

And
One
Two, three,
World is free
Of war not peace that
Rebels against genocide feel
Perpetuate the need for equality, justice
By confronting demeaning attitudes with powerful words that
Instill a rebellious rage for subjugation’s sign’s
Unacceptable domination
Needs a kick in the
Arse to free
Press while
Peaceful
For
Thee
©️ 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