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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 for my poem, Burrito Farts

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab What’s funnier than farts? Hilarious poem, Malak! You’ve reminded me of kids rolling around on the floor out of their minds with laughter because someone has farted. There’s something very fundamental going on with this source of humor. Could it be the surprise and offensiveness of an all too human smell? Whatever, your funny descriptions and punchy rhymes are excellent, so much fun!! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Burrito Farts

Breakfast burrito?
Yes, a great start for farts
Farts smelling of rotten food,
Food from beans and eggs,
Eggs have a medium scent,
Scent that permeates the air,
Air needed to live,
Live off oxygen that’s polluted,
Polluted by beany farts, whose color,
Color is a nauseous vomity green,
Green that almost black,
Black and filled with gas,
Gas requiring a gas mask,
Mask that protects from bio weapon,
Weapon that if used properly,
Properly can extinguish idiocy,
Idiocy that promotes beany, funny,  farts.

©️ 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

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Accolade and Review for my poem,  ‘To Be or Not to Be’

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab A wonderfully inspiring poem, Malak, it would be a dream come true if “peace, harmony, and acceptance” were “the norm rather than fear.” Excellent use of Shakespeare’s famous life to describe our lives, “a streaming play.” Despite many people not having a say, despite the torpor of daily life, the poet wisely advises us to embrace our dreams, to hold the hands of our lovers, to make even the damnable pleasurable. Thank you for sharing this encouraging poem! By Linda Powers O’Dell

‘To Be or Not To Be’¹

To Dream or Not to Dream
Is such a wonder in a light beam.

I dream of you and me, lover,
As we hold hands as our hearts flutter

In a world where, none have a say
In anything but a streaming play.

A drama of such magnitude and splendor
That anything reality brings is but torpor.

While dreaming of things that be
In, ‘To be or not to be’²,

You swerve, soar, steer, drive, or dive
Into a dream as real as you contrive,

Where peace, harmony, and acceptance
Are the norm rather than fear and non truce.

Elevate your dream into your life
Making the damnable all but pleasurable.

©️Malak kalmoni chehab ©️
1,2: William Shakespeare

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,  ‘Resistance Is Futile’

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab The Cyborg have always given me a chill. I think it’s because it’s true our individuality is threatened by all the things that, as you say, bombard us daily. This is a wonderful protest poem advising us to resist. So inspiring!! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Thank you for the honor of your accolade.

‘Resitance is Futile’*1

We’re being bombarded, daily,
By subliminal messages, hourly,
Whispers of drugs, violence, alcoholics’ enduced hazes, minutely,
Incorporated in ALL media, compulsively.

Resistance is Futile …

Words, sounds, images coalesce
Into an indoctrinated presence
That’s insidious in its convergence
Into your mind, creating a blinding trace

For behaviors that are incongruent
With ‘our’ Ideals of humanity, that are esculent
By mediocrity of addiction becoming permanent,
As our dependence skyrockets into exponent …

‘Resitance is Futile’ …

As our struggles persist,  our
Vision, imagination, purveyor
Of our strength of cohesion, flutter
Into a bud that flourishes in power.

As ‘Resistance is Futile’,

Our obstacles remain tangible,
Yet, clearly, unattainable.
The need to strive to be corrigible
Is embedded in our DNA, for hope is always tenable.

Thus:
‘Resitance is (Not) Futile.’

*1. Star Treck, the Borgh, a a cyborg entity trying to Conquer worlds, says this to Captain Pickard when they wish to invade earth.

©️ 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 PIQUANT

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Superb acrostic, Malak, with your references to the zesty and the peppery, it’s quite piquant itself. It’s great how you include the key word in your poem as a clue. Lots of flavorful action words: awakening, flowing, dancing, melding. Your last line captures the essence of piquancy, sharp, tangy, and spicy flavors presented harmoniously. Your lovely poem is just as stimulating and lively! Wonderful! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Acrostic
PIQUANT
Picking your flavors is a must
Increasing its zesty, peppery,
Quality to awaken your palate
Unceremoniously flowing
Against the norm of taste buds
Needing to dance with the piquant
Trifle melding varying tastes in harmony.

©️ 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,  Ignoring Lies

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab “Honesty is 

revolting against lies,” what an admirable theme, Malak! It is a great feat to oppose deceit! There is so much destructive moral corruption flooding our society with lies that I fear it is becoming dangerous to protest. We must resist and your poem is a beautiful call to that cause. The innocent victims of atrocities are waiting for some sort of justice. We as onlookers require redemption. Your writing is wonderful, so powerfully and profoundly expressed.  The rhymes and rhythm are splendid.  Thanks so much for sharing this superb poem! By, Linda Powers O’Dell

Ignoring Lies

As the media plays its deceptive role
In the humanitarian atrocities taking place,
We witness two radically, opposing
Perspectives playing out without understanding

Which reality takes precedence,
Nor which realities are factual without presence
Of alterations to increase dramatization
That skews perspectives of oppression

And horror of the atrocities faced
By victims of an unending war, as they prayed
For absolution of their sins while witnessing
Death’s magnanimous stealth, stealing

Away an easy end with a suffucating breath
That gurgles out, indecisive if life is better than death.
Who’s to say that opposing deceit
Is NOT a great feat?

Honesty in revolting against lies
Awakens consciousness that pries
Away the screen that’s hoodwinked
Those who wished for ignorance that burdened

Them with the knowledge
Of their own moral corruption on a ledge
That destroys without question
By enforcing rules of misplaced adulation.

©️ 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,  Phoenix’s Rise

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Fantastic mirror and concrete poem, Malak! In your first stanza the first seven lines decrease in number of syllables, (10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 3,) and then like a phoenix rising, the next seven lines increase, (3, 2, 6, 8, 8, 8, 8.) The last three lines are a preamble to your inspiring cascading refrain to embracing the future and starting anew like the glorious phoenix. The ruins and rubble of your first lines are wonderfully poignant; the central cause, ambition, is powerfully emphasized by repetition. You subtly acknowledge its benefits but deplore how it creates wealth that is used to dominate others. The cycles of the phoenix seem to be the way of the world. Superb inventive and thoughtful poetry! Brava!! By, Linda Powers O’Dell

A visual poem
Phoenix’s Rise 

The Phoenix will rise out of the ashes
Ashes of fire, destruction, rubble,
Rubble of buildings of cement,
Cement that housed families,
Families whose lives ruined,
Ruined by ambition,
Ambition!
Ambition.
Power
Power of politics,
Politics and economy,
Economy that leads to wealth,
Wealth that is revered for its breadth,
Breadth to dominate those with less,
Less money, connections,
Connections, compelling
Compelling survivors in

S        U        V       O       R        S
U        N        I        W      E        T
P        D        T        N      V        A
P        E         A        I         I       R
L        R         L         I       T         T
I                                N      A        I
C       A          R         G       L       N
A                   E                    I        G
T                   F          A       Z
I                   R                    E        A
O                  A          F       D        N
N                  I           U                  E
                    N          T        C       W
                                  U       U        .
                                  R       S
                                  E       T
                                            O
                                            M

©️ 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,  Peace’s Breath

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab A beautifully heartfelt, philosophical and ethical poem. Malak. You’ve used the image of the merry-go-round cleverly as a metaphor for the violent world needing peace. How poignantly you describe childhood disrupted, the disintegration of families, the appropriation of cultures, and the expansion of disharmony. You make the subtle point that it’s not enough to compensate murder; we must orchestrate our thoughts, our efforts, to revitalize our intentions to create peace. This inspiring last stanza touches the soul. A superbly written poem with subtle rhymes, a lyrical cadence, powerful images, complex well organized thoughts, an exquisite use of precise vocabulary. Brava!! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Peace’s Breath

Round, round goes the world
In a merry-go-round filled
With laughter, life, violence,
Death in a grim cycle needing peace.

Peace for the young whose
Disrupted childhoods froze
With wars’ colonizing program
To alter countries’ cultures for a flame

Feasting on disintegration of families,
Cultures, languages, civilizations whose priorities
Are fostering longevity by strengthening
Community’s peaceful bonds, wishing,

Wishing for the propagation of unity
Against an army of aggression, violently
Expanding its reach into disharmony
Among land, people, conquerors, passionately

Striving to compensate murder
Rather than an orchestration that’ll ponder
The need to revitalize a willful strength
Embued with peace’s poetic 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,  Window of Time

Thank you for the honor and your hard work.

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Wow! “Knowing that joy, eternal, an antidepressant/Is your only rebellion not to live in a cast.” Oof! Bam! Kapow! The entire poem was lovely, deliciously evocative and then you land a knockout blow with that final thought. Nicely done. By Tara Hicks

Such a beautifully sublime poem, Malak, so many amazing images! Time, “mercury slippery,” is a brilliant comparison. You’ve wonderfully transformed the mural into an intriguing metaphorical narrative. The serpent of fear slithers in the branches of an ancient tree upon which scary bats hang. Yet a cardinal of grace sings of hope eternal, of endless time that cannot be stopped. Like that cheerful bird, we must accept the past that can’t be recast, we must “soar in the present.” Being joyous to live in this present, that is part of the eternal, is the way to true freedom. It is a spiritual rebellion! Superb rhyme scheme and rhythm, excellent sophisticated tone and composition. Fantastic, encouraging poem, Brava!! By Linda Powers O’Dell

Window of Time

Through my small window
The world revolves around time,
Time, intangible, like mercury slippery, a crime
Not to stand still and let it flow

Slowly around you as you
Watch the ancient tree’s branches
Reach out to the sun in gnarled bunches,
The resting place for the serpent you

Fear as it slithers from place
To place spreading its evil along
The aid of bats that string you along,
Yet on the other branch rests,  with grace,

The red cardinal whose beauty,
Color, elegance speeds your heart
With hope eternal, limitless in its great
Licenses for carrying hope on wings that flew highly

Into the vastness of a blue sky
Knowing that time,
Rhyming with lime is a transient crime
That can’t be stopped unless you try

To soar in the present
Understanding the past, that can’t be recast,
Knowing that joy, eternal, an antidepressant
Is your only rebellion not to live in a cast.

©️ 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