Sandpaper Tongue, Parchment Lips (Paperback or Softback)

In Sandpaper Tongue, Parchment Lips, Melanie Hyo-In Han asks what it means to be an outsider to both language and place while returning the reader-cum-witness to the house of poetry. In plain language Han's poems pack and unpack the tender complications of the speaker's puzzling through national belongings whether in Korea, Tanzania, or the United States. The migrating body thrives in rainy seasons, in heartbreak, in alienation, all while baring the intimacy of presence and poetic line.

-Rajiv Mohabir, author of Cutlish and The Cowherd's Son

This stunning and moving chapbook puts a map in your hands as you travel from Morogoro to Marrakech, from Korea to Kenya, retracing your steps back home. Melanie Hyo-In Han's mastery of imagery and form demonstrates a playfulness with memory without shying away from the heaviness that often comes along for the ride. Each poem offers an invitation to explore family and place with an elegant assuredness, a tender guide. Sandpaper Tongue, Parchment Lips not only asks, "Can I Roll, Slice, Stack Memories?" but also, "at what cost?"

-Livia Meneghin, author of Honey in My Hair

Melanie Hyo-In Han, born in Korea and raised in East Africa, has been calling Boston "home" for the past several years where she is a poet, teacher, and author of Sandpaper Tongue, Parchment Lips. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize, her poetry has received awards from "Boston in 100 Words" and The Lyric Magazine. Han earned her M.F.A. in Poetry and Translation from Emerson College where she taught in the Writing Studies Program and served as an ELL Consultant. She is currently a poetry editor at Flora Fiction. Learn more about her at melaniehan.com.