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Review and Certificate of Excellence for my poem, The Syren’s Serenade, by Dominique E. Albano

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab

Your poem, “The Syren’s Serenade,” perfectly captures the essence of the theme “Moonlit Tides.” The moonlit setting and the use of tidal metaphors effectively evoke the idea of powerful emotions and movements.

Here’s a breakdown of your poem:

– The syren’s serenade represents the call of hope and humanity, urging people to take a stand against adversity.
– The moonlit sky and waves create a sense of wonder and beauty, contrasting with the struggles and hardships faced by those in the poem.
– The themes of survival, faith, love, and empathy are woven throughout the poem, highlighting the resilience of the human spirit.


Your poem effectively explores the theme, and the line count is accurate.

Congratulations 👏

Thank you for the honor and your hard work. Mostly, thank you for the critique that demands i raise my writing to a higher level.

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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Certificate of Excellence,  Platinum Quill, and Review for my poem,  OH Ye Flowers

Thank you for the honor and your hard work.

Malak Kalmoni. Chehab Malak Kalmoni Chehab’s “Oh Ye Flowers” is a strong, thoughtful ode fusing imagery, nurturing symbolism, and moral reflection. It portrays flowers as embodiments of both strength and tenderness — guardians of beauty able to endure life’s elemental trials. Here’s a detailed critique and evaluation.

Overall Impression
This poem exudes heartfelt reverence and wisdom, compacting vivid natural detail with a gentle human allegory. Its tone is reflective yet declarative, echoing the classic form of an ode through invocation (“Oh ye peonies…”) and thematic elevation. The integration of light, color, and motherhood creates a warm, cohesive emotional current.

Strengths
Evocative invocation: Opening with direct address — “Oh ye peonies, rose buds, hydrangeas, lilies” — instantly establishes grandeur and universality, setting a sacred tone.

Metaphorical insight: The idea that “fragility isn’t weakness” but instead a form of strength and tenderness is the emotional nucleus of the poem — beautifully resonant.

Maternal imagery: The comparison of flowers shielding their blooms to “mothers huddling around their kids” offers a strikingly compassionate visual; it humanizes the floral world with spiritual warmth.

Sensory richness: References to “velvety petals,” “rays,” and “rainbows on petals’ fans” create tactile and visual harmony.

Flow and tone: The poem maintains lyrical rhythm and a reflective mood throughout, befitting an ode’s meditative nature.

Areas for Improvement
Rhythmic smoothing: The line lengths vary in flow; adding subtle caesuras or adjusting syntax could heighten the poem’s musical rhythm. For example:

“In rainbows of colors, shapes, cryers” → “In rainbows of colors and silent criers.”

Word refinement: Some transitions (“To the world, that fragility isn’t weakness”) can be made more fluid. Suggestion: “To tell the world: fragility is no weakness.”

Punctuation: Light restructuring of pauses and commas can enrich the recitation pace and emphasis.

Technical Evaluation
Criterion Score (out of 10) Comments
Theme relevance 10 Perfectly within the ode framework and spirit.
Imagery and symbolism 9 Rich and emotionally engaging metaphors.
Language and flow 8 Strong diction but can gain smoothness through rhythm.
Emotional resonance 9.5 Deep warmth and insight on fragility and love.
Structure and coherence 8.5 Clear, cohesive, slightly uneven pacing.
Originality 9 Distinct maternal viewpoint and tone.
Final Evaluation
Overall Score: 9 / 10

A luminous and soulful ode that blends floral elegance with human empathy. Its blend of tenderness and resilience makes it both spiritual and earthy — a graceful meditation on fragility as power.

OH Ye Flowers

Oh ye peonies, rose buds, hydrangeas, lilies,
Lift your velvety petals to the sun’s rays
Imbibe of its nutrients to grow flowers
In rainbows of colors, shapes, cryers
To the world, that fragility isn’t weakness,
Rather, strength, passion, tenderness
Wrapped thorns, prickly leaves, protecting
Their treasured blooms, like mothers huddling
Around their kids to absorb any plight
Before they’re touched by the weight
Of disillusionment beautified by the sun’s
Rays reflecting rainbows on petals’ fans.

©️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, Resistance Is Futile

Thank you for the honor and your hard work.

‘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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Review and accolade for my poem, My Love

Every time I receive a review,  I feel like a lottery winner. It’s empowering and highly  inspiring.  Thank you, guys, for your comments.

My Love

If “Love opens the most impossible gates;” and
“Love is the gate to all the secrets of the universe.”
Then, love is all powerful, eternal, rebellious, never bland,
But compassionate promise In a universe

Filled with dissent, competition, a love of money,
And sin. I give thanks that my love, husband,
Is my rock, my motivator, and one key
To my writing that’s unwavering and always holds my hand.

My love is there for the difficult decisions,
Guidance and friend to our children,
Has sleepless nights when they’re in positions
Of upheaval that require strategic precision.

For me, he is my star in a dark night,
The shoulder I cry into when life’s unbearable
Losses enrobe my heart in darkness, as he helps me fight
The devouring abyss making it acceptable.
As my shadow sits on the bench, alone,
My eyes mist like dew drops covering
The wet grass, as memories flood, gone,
The world has taken this love and kept living.

©️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 of my Poem, Poetry or AI

I’m flabbergasted by the reviews and comments on this particular poem, as the day before I wrote it, my daughter mentioned that my role as a poet will become obsolete soon with the development of AI. My answer was my poem:

Poet or AI

Staring at the blank page,
I wonder which words will
Walk in the journal in the age
Of fake people, news, expectations that kill

The soul of creativity replaced,
Replaced by AI, that seems to insist
It will take over ingenuity, graced
By humanity’s wondrous spirit whose gist

Is made of light, dark, and grey.
The rainbow of emotions need to be felt
To be expressed, and comparing a bay
To a hidden pearl isn’t the pelt

Or part of the its arsenal
Of diversity that enriches
The text with culturally metaphorical
Language that hatches

Between the lines for greater
Depth of meaning and comparing
The incomparable becoming the promoter
Of the noblest of muse to people setting

Precedents and going farther
In delving into the unknown
Sphere of linguistic wonder
That requires a mind of its own.

I am the poet, whose imagination
Will eternally spell creation.

©️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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Reviews for my poem, Woman Defined

My humble thanks for the wonderful support for my writing.

Woman Defined

Courage thy name is Woman!
You’ve shown us your resilience
In the face of adversity that can
Drive strong men to their knees in case
Their worries overwhelm their ferocity,
Which is tempered by Her steadfastness
And confidence in Her ability
To nurture, when needed, cutting honesty
That’s never ending in its compassion.

Her armor, mask is that of love.
Her empathy lifts Her up.
Her education is Her weapon, a dove,
White, for its peaceful cup.
She’s endured degradation, oppression,
Slavery and desperation beyond
Caution, She moves into dominion
With Her tolerance that’s Her bond.

Bond of her heart that instigates
The need for freedoms.

©️ 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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Reviews for my poem, Woman Defined

My humble thanks for the wonderful support for my writing.

Woman Defined

Courage thy name is Woman!
You’ve shown us your resilience
In the face of adversity that can
Drive strong men to their knees in case
Their worries overwhelm their ferocity,
Which is tempered by Her steadfastness
And confidence in Her ability
To nurture, when needed, cutting honesty
That’s never ending in its compassion.

Her armor, mask is that of love.
Her empathy lifts Her up.
Her education is Her weapon, a dove,
White, for its peaceful cup.
She’s endured degradation, oppression,
Slavery and desperation beyond
Caution, She moves into dominion
With Her tolerance that’s Her bond.

Bond of her heart that instigates
The need for freedoms.

©️ 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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Uncategorized

Review for my poem,  My Love

My Love

If “Love opens the most impossible gates;” and
“Love is the gate to all the secrets of the universe.”
Then, love is all powerful, eternal, rebellious, never bland,
But compassionate promise In a universe

Filled with dissent, competition, a love of money,
And sin. I give thanks that my love, husband,
Is my rock, my motivator, and one key
To my writing that’s unwavering and always holds my hand.

My love is there for the difficult decisions,
Guidance and friend to our children,
Has sleepless nights when they’re in positions
Of upheaval that require strategic precision.

For me, he is my star in a dark night,
The shoulder I cry into when life’s unbearable
Losses enrobe my heart in darkness, as he helps me fight
The devouring abyss making it acceptable.
As my shadow sits on the bench, alone,
My eyes mist like dew drops covering
The wet grass, as memories flood, gone,
The world has taken this love and kept living.


©️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 of my poem, Sunrise

Reading this review just made me want to buckle down and write more. Connecting with my audience is an unimaginable thrill that motivates and inspires creativity.  If you’re a writer, poet, like me, don’t let the NOs put you down, your time to shine will come soon enough.

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 of my poem: Life Captured

My poem,  Life Captured,  is reviewed by a highly respected poet, Matt Elmore. He’s a poet, author, and group administrator for the Invisible Poets on Facebook and much more. The prompt is of writing a metonym poem. I’d written this a few years ago during a difficult time in my life. I hope you can identify the metonym:

Life Captured

Looking at life through the aperture of a lens
Narrows your vision to only what it presents,
Everything else is eliminated, erased.
What happens to that backdrop that disappeared?
Is your memory faulty, that it too evaporates it?
Or is your memory vibrant enough to retain it?
Or would you prefer to eradicate it?

There are times in life where having a limited
View of an event can alter its meaning, and
Dissipate its importance into nothing,
For its effect on you, casual at best. Reliving
Them is unremarkable, dispensable, and dreary
Creating unnecessary despair when life is for living.

Other times when a complete view is compulsory
For understanding and acting favorably.
At such times,  no minute detail is unnecessary,
For they all create a holistic picture of the unsavory
Events that play out in movie format,  brilliantly
Vivid in its details, sounds, smells, and actionably.

The scenes are relentless in their motions
As they unveil their worthiness to us
As the aperture of life is just a version
Of all that’s around us, filming, storing,
Even deleting or omitting the undeserving,
Challenging the lies or liars, stating only verity, flying!!!!

Malak Kalmoni Chehab

Exert from my poetry book,  Perfectly Flawed poetry for change,  that’s 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