UNC Student Melody Dalili shares her life experiences through the gift of poetry

It was on Apr. 20 of this year, while getting food at Chase Dining Hall and listening to an announcement on a phone call, that UNC student Melody Dalili received the life-altering news that she would be the second Youth Poet Laureate of Tennessee. 

“I think when I walked out of Chase, I laid on the brick on the ground and I just sat there for a little bit, and I was like, 'What is going on?'” Dalili said. 

Since then, Dalili has played an impactful role not only in her community in Tennessee, but also the community she has found in Chapel Hill, sharing the intricate story of her life and experiences through poetry.

Prior to being named Youth Poet Laureate of Tennessee, Dalili was announced as the 2022-23 Knoxville Youth Poet Laureate on April 10, 2022 when she was 16, just two years after being removed from an abusive home. The life she faced while growing up plays a heavy role in her work and her drive for change.

The gravity and importance of her new role, Dalili said, didn’t hit her until her very first event as Tennessee Youth Poet Laureate, while sitting in a hotel room after being flown back home for the occasion.

“My writing is so unique to my own personal experiences that when people say that they are moved by my poetry, it feels like they're also moved by personal experiences.” Dalili said. 

After being removed from an abusive home, Dalili found herself homeless for four years, living with her father in a warehouse he owned. She dealt with the trauma and stress of her circumstances by writing poetry, and published her own book when she was 16, selling copies to friends, classmates and people all around the world.

Dalili hand-pressed and printed each copy of her first book by herself, putting it under her bed each night to flatten it.

“I feel like writing poetry for me was a way of like asking people not to forget about me,” Dalili said, “Or trying to put things into something that was permanent, so that people knew that what I went through was real.”

One of Dalili’s suitemates, Sevilay Betül Coşkun, met Dalili through the NC Fellows program after being placed in the same suite by chance. 

“When you hear her laugh, you wanna laugh.” Coşkun said, “It makes you wanna smile more. And I think Melody is just a really kind person, you can really depend on her.”

When Coşkun found out Dalili wrote poetry, she asked to read some of it, finding that Dalili had a copy on hand of her second book, "Thank You For Staying."

Reading Dalili’s writing, Coşkun said, was one of the few times she had ever cried while reading poetry. 

“I sent Mel a voice message. I was like, ‘This is so beautiful and so touching. And I can tell that you put a lot of work into this.’” Coşkun said. 

Dalili has also made an impact not only in her personal circles, but in her academic world as well. Robin Thady, Dalili’s biology academic coach, said she immediately had a huge impression of the poet. 

Thady started working with Dalili after they met at a BioCell Learning Group, starting one-on-one coaching shortly after. 

“Through knowing her as a person, you can see how much of the way that she operates is captured in that,” Thady said. “Because I've witnessed how much awe she displays for just what seems like everyday things.”

While also majoring in biology at UNC, Dalili is double-minoring in creative writing and studio art, continuing her passion for art while still hosting events, workshops, and giving talks on writing all over Tennessee. 

In one of her most recent workshops at a school in Nashville, Dalili taught a group of students how to use blackout poetry by asking them to write about a horrific experience they’d had, and then using that paragraph to create a blackout poem about something positive.

“You're going to flip it and use it for good, you know, which I think is actually a metaphor for my entire life,” Dalili said, “Taking what I had been given and using it for something better.”

@dthlifestyle | lifestyle@dailytarheel.com

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated that Dalili is the first Youth Poet Laureate of Tennessee. Dalili is the second Youth Poet Laureate of Tennessee. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for this error.