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Accolade and Review for my poem,  Lamb’s Flourish

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Your descriptions of autumn are glorious, Malak! Comparing the fallen leaves to a lion’s mane is brilliant, especially as you connect them with fallen glory. Then you extend your metaphor to humans: it takes courage, the heart of a lion, to drop our pretenses and show our true selves, vulnerable though they may be. Surviving the freeze of winter our spirits gallop toward renewal, all the joys of rebirth. Wonderful structure, rhythm and rhymes! Marvelous poem!!
I didn’t know about lion’s mane, both the orange flowering plant and the mushroom that grows on trees, such an amazing thing! By, Linda Powers O’Dell

Lamb’s Flourish

As the colors of fall turn into reds,
Yellows, burnished greens, browns,
That scatter the ground in their lion’s
Mane, their fallen glory, sad domains

Where it takes the heart of a lion
To shed your colorful dress of a parroting wren,
Exposing your vulnerability, a lamb in a pen,
Waiting for nature’s freeze to be a hen

That protects her chicks from the cold
Breeze stirring death in a breath, bold
Stealth to hand over death to the unsuspecting old
Bones, trunks, plants, whose hold

On life is precarious, but chance’s
Regalia leads the weak into a prance’s
Gallop towards spring, burgeoning lances
Of beauty,  strength, flowing stealing glances

At the reappearing hues of greens
Enshrining nature with a depth that preens
With its glory of colors, resounding in ferns
Hanging onto trees, like burrs, never spurns

The life flowing through vains
Flooding feelings of powerful cranes
Spreading through the undergrowth in pains
Of rebirth’s splendor and grains.

Let the lion’s mane flourish
On the grounds, never selfish
In sharing its beauty, that’ll never perish
As long as you believe in the glow of the parish.

©️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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Golden Pen Award, Accolade and Review for my poem, Diet

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Fantastic poem, Malak! Counting calories is hell! This poem is an excellent indictment of how we allow ourselves to be brainwashed by cultural norms, thus setting ourselves up to be victimized by crass marketeers of fraud. You as poet do proffer the hope that we may be awakened, enlightened by love, but that too often turns out  to be a fairy tale. You raise such profound questions.To what extent are we shaped by stories and expectations? How free are we when we are so susceptible to cultural influences. You’ve created gut wrenching, powerful images and some wonderful scattered rhymes: hen/pen/wren, refrain/brainwashed, flees/deep, etc..Hurray!! By, Linda Powers O’Dell

Your poem is a masterclass in satire, Malak Kalmoni Chehab perfectly captures the endless cycle of dieting with such finesse, the way you weave words is truly creative. By, Ritu Shyam

Thank you for the honor and your hard work.

Diet

Diet shmyiet, what a gross lie it
Is told to men and women
To market
Products, tasteless, gross hen

Where the pen is the dieter’s
Wren speaking in a singsong
Refrain to honor the brainwashed
Who follow like Lambs to the slaughters

As they count calories,
Exercise till exhaustion flees
Into Snow White’s deep sleeps
To be woken, only, by love’s

Kiss, a fairytale designed,
Like the diet, shmiyet, to inculcate
A perception of self that changed
With trends of beauty’s fate.

©️ 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,  Death’s Light

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Beautiful mirroring poem, Malak, contrasting darkness and light like matter/antimatter images. Each stanza swells, expands and then contracts, like a realization of an important truth, an insight. The first is a powerful trip through the shadows of death, the dominion of the devil and the damned. The second stanza is a heavenly reprieve, a victory over destroying deviltry. Creatiing these two realms, your images are fantastic, original and elegantly presented. Excellent, dramatic poem!! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Death’s Light

Dark,
Razor sharp,
Claws of nails torn,
Horns of hell adorn
The souls of evils that step
Into the obscure, winding well to help
Those damned souls to reach
The pinprick of light breach
The diabolic breath, laugh,
Full of a pestilent cuff,
Shadowy death,
Lingering,
Stealing
Life
Turned
To death.
Dark.

Light,
Souls so bright,
Cleave the way to flight.
Soar in a cyclone’s might,
Into a haven of promised delight.
Tell your tale in whispers fiery
In their warmth and stealthy
In their fight against deviltry,
Whose hold is sturdy
But crumbles
When faced
With
Light.

©️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,  Tired Souls

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Wonderful and profound quotation, Malak! Yes indeed, being alone is not the same as being lonely. We should be our own best company. Kudos for exploring so many of the benefits of solitude! I particularly like how you say, “Being alone centers you and helps balance you.”  Your delightful images, speaking parts, and rhymes make this poem a great pleasure to read! By, Linda Powers O’Dell

Tired Souls

“Isolation is a need for those whose souls are tired”,           Arab scholar

Invent an invisible space, where images are visual.
Solve the need for rest from others in your rest, soul.
Only the lonely express this need for frivolity?
“Late again!” Leaving your space is such agony!
Amid all the yells, shouts, and greetings you are asunder.
Time flies, teaming with work, oozing away time’s happier,
Inevitable progress, that diminishes our secure imaginings.
“Obviously, you’re crazy! Who wants to be alones?”

Never assume that being alone means lonely!

Being alone centers you and helps balance you.
It rejuvenates your ability to listen to inanities that boo
Your mood into a world of  blue!

Being alone helps you heal from long forgotten
Wounds, that bleed till you cauterize their braying
That boo your mood into the blue!

Being alone solidifies your faith,
As you accept your problems as tests of strength,
Your center, alone, is your faith and your strength!
Don’t let the boos send you in a mood of blue!
©️ 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,  Soar Into Change

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Well said, Malak! We must be adaptable on our journeys of self-discovery; we must accept and expect that much is unknown. Your philosophical analysis of the parts of or requirements for being brave and self-aware is excellent synecdoche. Your stanzas are so well developed and balanced, your rhymes are powerful. Great poem!! By, Linda Powers O’Dell

Soar into Change

Any journey where all is known
Is too predictable,  boring even,
While the bends, ups, and down
Aren’t fixed, they do stay hidden

The beauty of self awareness
Is in being flexible, adaptable
To changes that can repress
The ability to move forward, that’s indomitable.

Catch the fire of self-discovery
That soars above your comfort
Zone, where all is set, scheduled, an armory
Of built masks that dissuade building a port

Where support and change
Are an integral part of being brave
Enough to be aware that a stagnant age
Is a slow death of imagination as a bondslave.

©️ 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 double poem, Existential Void

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Bravo for taking on such a challenging form, Malak! This poem is wonderfully, deeply philosophical and psychological. You valorize those “Tumultuous wars within that try to/Eradicate despair’s darkest emptiness,” the struggles of hope that refuse to give in to villainy and the void. Powerful poem!! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Double Acrostic
Existential Void

E xtenuating circumstances       Vie to the
X ysti to try and rest                     Omitting
I ntentionality of an existental voId
S ublimating intensions of         Destructively
T umultuous wars within that try to
E radicate despair’s darkest emptiness,
N ever allowing it to overflow with
T he love, faith needed to defy    Villany
I nterminable in its need to destrOy
A stronomical strength that         Intensifies
L iving in the light of hope, never Denouncing the void.

©️ 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.,  Spiritual Union’s Courage

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab
A bold and thought-provoking piece that highlights courage and empathy, portraying shared humanity through acts of sacrifice and unwavering solidarity. ✨  By, Nazmieh W. E. Insaniyat


Spiritual Union’s Courage

Greta Thunberg and many others
Have navigated treacherous waters
Taking the Freedom Flotilla II, to
Alleviate hunger at the hand of genocides crew

Whose sole purpose is eradicating
Natives to steal their lands hoping
That their resistance would be short-lived,
Yet, it has lasted 26 months unchecked.

For Great, Rima Hassan their futile
Attempt landed them in the same file
As those to be saved, prison,  torture
Like no other. That didn’t deter their flight
To sweep to the rescue people they don’t

Know, but empathize with their plight,
Knowing the fight is a historic statement
Of courage, spiritual union, and strength
To dive into danger for others’ breath.

©️ 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,  War’s ABCs

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

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Accolade and Review for my acrostic poem, TUMULTUOUS

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Excellent acrostic poem, Malak, replete with the most heartbreaking images! The violence, the grief, the blood and death are all so vividly portrayed. Your tone is courageously sincere, and your descriptions are balanced and authentic. Those poor orphans whose trauma is endless! Poetically this is a most poignant ending. Superb poem, thank you so much for sharing it. By Linda Powers O’Dell

TUMUTUOUS

T urbulent times are terrifying as
U ncertainty settles in the bones in a
M ishmash of tumutuous feelings where the
U nreality of the horrific events of amputees,
L ost heads, empty chest cavities, blood
T rickling, soaking the rubble, ground, family
U nrestrained in their grief of inhumane loss
O utnumber those left of the family tree, now most are
U nder the rubble of six feet under. Who’s left to
S upervise the orphans whose trauma’s endless.

©️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 poem, Addiction

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Mmmm, coffee, chocolate, and contemplation! And a refusal to be brought down by the news and social media. Such a delightful, meaningful poem, Malak! “Raising the bar in a day filled/With noise poised to litter the mind’ are great lines, that pun is wonderful. We all have our morning habits, yours sound mentally healthy. You close with the great advice to avoid darkness and despair, to fill our cups with hope, and to repair what is broken. How beautifully encouraging and inspiring! Excellent poem!! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Addiction

I’m  an addict
And I know it!

I revere two of the three Cs:
Coffee,  candy,  and cigarettes.

I love my coffee alone with my contemplation
Of life, likes, posts, news, like a great commotion,

Flitting from one to the next trying to see
What’s best before I rest to be free.

Posts galore and replies of mine
Make my day, as the taste of Coffee

Feels like a sinful pleasure.
With my dark drink, I bite into chocolate,

And drift into a coma at heaven’s gate.
I savor the sweetness along the strength

Of body of the coffee and its bitterness.

Life with the morning rituals
Cake, candy, chocolate, coffee and sweets

Is like life without a hero like Ferrero,
Or Cadbury, Mars, KitKat,  and Aero!

Raising the bar in a day filled
With noise, poised to litter the mind

With fear, worry, and being drear!
So my habitual start is set in stone:

Coffee, contemplation, quiet that have
A lead to social media, news, where I refuse

To succumb to its dadarkness
That needs to twist your morning addictions

Into a depressive, foggy darkness.
Let your coffee’s wisdom fill
Your empty cup with hope that will

Reject solidifying into despair,
But reaches in your depths to repair.
©️ 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