I’m humbled, flabbergasted by the honor of having a chapter for my 2 poems about Gaza. The topic of Gaza, the humanitarian problems, genocide that has been ongoing for almost 3 years has had a deep effect on me. Knowing that I have access to simple utilities, taken for granted, is in and on itself difficult to digest. Even worse is the fact that when hunger striked and International Aid locations opened up, the Palestinians were shot down simply for trying to stay alive.
This Anthology, link below, is a collaboration of international poets who agree on the fact that peace is necessary, humanity is failing Palestinians, and our pens, minds are our rebellion.
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.
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.
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.
We did all we could … Yet, genocide is as deadly as beheading, Death is as real as your breathing, Living is as traumatic as a horrifying cloud.
We did all we could … But child amputees are running marathons To survive but another day as pawns Of politics that’s gross as it hammered
That “We did all we could”, clause That left pregnant mothers to die, Elderly to fry in fire’s explosive dye, Fathers to be scattered in pieces in cruel cries
That “We did all we could”, was Said to assuage politicians’ conscious While knowing their endeavors were shackled in pious Prison, whose doctrine permits rapes,
Whose haze in, “We did all we could”, Evaporates in the fog of time that flies Without scheduling its prime in trauma that cries Out to be understood, yet, their voices loud
And proud in the hopeful quagmire of guilt Of surviving, whole or not, presses In the abyss of despair where hopeless Orphaned, erased families, press to built.
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.
Malak Kalmoni. Chehab powerful poem Malak, Hard hitting and rightly so! This is a well crafted poem but probably quite difficult to verbalise aloud… it has few obvious breaks or pauses between stanzas and complex word use… The only way I think this could be adequately delivered is then hard and fast, within righteous anger, an emotional outpouring of angst? Or very slowly in a resigned,defeated tempo… mid way would stumble… and it is too good a poem with too important a message to stumble…. I’m interested in your thoughts?
Thank you for the honor and your hard work. This was a spoken poem that’s difficult to render, but I’ll do my best.
We Did Everything
We did all we could … Yet, genocide is as deadly as beheading, Death is as real as your breathing, Living is as traumatic as a horrifying cloud.
We did all we could … But child amputees are running marathons To survive but another day as pawns Of politics that’s gross as it hammered
That “We did all we could”, clause That left pregnant mothers to die, Elderly to fry in fire’s explosive dye, Fathers to be scattered in pieces in cruel cries
That “We did all we could”, was Said to assuage politicians’ conscious While knowing their endeavors were shackled in pious Prison, whose doctrine permits rapes,
Whose haze in, “We did all we could”, Evaporates in the fog of time that flies Without scheduling its prime in trauma that cries Out to be understood, yet, their voices loud
And proud in the hopeful quagmire of guilt Of surviving, whole or not, presses In the abyss of despair where hopeless Orphaned, erased families, press to built.
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.