Meet Melody Dalili, the Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate of Knoxville and Youth Poet Laureate of Tennessee! Dalili is a sophomore majoring in biology and minoring in creative writing and studio art.
In speaking to the inspirations for her work, Dalili said:
“My younger sister is fifteen and still back home. Everything I do is for her. She’s so much wiser than me and we’re currently working on her college applications (she’s beefing up and graduating early). It makes me so excited to imagine a world where I can be the one to demonstrate gentleness because that was demonstrated for me by various mentors who met me at the right time. Whoever said that ‘I am a mosaic of everyone I’ve ever loved’ on Reddit literally cooked. I think over time I’ve listened and learned from so many people who have invested in me, all I want to do is teach that to others. Somehow, I have zero and thousands of parents at the same time. I’m so lucky to have been believed in. It adds purpose to my poems—I love the word ‘intentional.’”
Dalili is currently working on an upcoming collection focusing on her experiences moving out of a childhood of abuse. Despite what she endured, Dalili hopes her experiences before coming to UNC “can juxtapose the conclusions in all of my poems” and that readers “are surprised by how open my palms are, still.”
She continued, “I was telling one of my adopted moms about this the other day—when these things happen to you, they put pressure on you like a piece of metal. And I feel like I could’ve been either sharpened or dulled—been made bitter and cruel, or soft and gentle. I think the weight of all of this has made me want to be kinder, and I feel really lucky to have finally fallen that way after some long years.”
In addition to her own personal creative pursuits, Dalili is conducting an independent study with Prof. Nicole Berland on the genre of the video essay. Video essays are increasingly popular means of conducting and disseminating scholarship, and Berland and Dalili’s research focuses on the mediums of distribution of video essay. Particularly, they are interested in how publication across social media platforms pose unique risks and challenges to the scholarship and in analyzing the various conventions, limitations, and affordances of the genre.
When asked about Dalili’s work, Prof. Berland said, “Mel is an absolute delight to have in the classroom. I’ve rarely met a student who is so earnestly motivated to learn everything she can, create anything she can, help anyone she can, and get as much out of college as possible. I feel lucky to have become part of her story in this way.”
In addition to encouraging fellow Heels to take courses with Prof. Berland, Dalili also highly recommended courses with Colin Dekeersgieter and Prof. Gaby Calvocoressi:
“Please take a class with them. They’re some of the most inspirational and intentional people I’ve ever met, and I really felt like they challenged me to write in discomfort but also respected me enough to feel like I was worthy to.”
You may find Dalili’s second book, thank you for staying on Amazon. She added, “Most of these poems are older and don’t really reflect my writing style now, but I still think there are pieces in there that can resonate with anyone reading.” She will also be presenting to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library next year and hopes to give a Tedx Talk soon.
