“In Mother Tongue, Chaelee Dalton trains their exacting eye and lyricism to capture the multiple sites of disruption and rupture that exist when one is born in one country and then adopted into another. In Dalton's case, those countries are South Korea and the United States, and they move deftly through the permeable boundaries of geography, culture, and (double) daughterhood, capturing the nuances of how a body is both at home and not at home… This is no mere book of recipes, no collection of poems that I have ever encountered before: what Dalton captures are the tense and inexplicable ways in which we are entangled by genetic, socio-cultural, and familial ties. What they offer is a reckoning, an indelible one.”
- Diana Khoi Nguyen
Chapbook:
Mother Tongue (Gold Line Press, May 2021), chosen by Diana Khoi Nguyen
Poems:
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The Offing- "Blood Type Personality Theory"
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Pinwheel Journal- "repair" and "Poem Under Wear"
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Sonora Review- "In which the Fishtank is"
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The Penn Review- "we're busting with eggs" and "Origin Story"
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Agave Review- "Lemon Tree," "Work Man Ship," and "an(on)ymo(us)"
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Impossible Archetype- "Point of View"
Nonfiction:
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The Poetry Foundation Harriet "After Reading"
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Solar Journal- "A New American Start"
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ILDA South Korean Feminist Journal: "hand me down"
Select Performances:
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No Longer Invisible Vigil (April 2021)
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Adoptees for Justice (November 2020)
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Wordsmiths Seoul (August 2019)
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Adoptees.KREATE (August 2019)
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Pitzer College Showcase (May 2019)
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Wordsmiths Seoul (August 2018)
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Adoptees.KREATE (August 2018)
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Sarah and Phil Kaye Opener (March 2018)
Editorial Work
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Back of the Envelope Assistant Editor, The Offing (March 2023-present)
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Translation Reader, The Offing (December 2021-present)
Select Coursework
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Mentorship Fellow, Kundiman (Aug 2021- Feb 2022)
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Dream, Memory, & Ecstasy Intermediate Workshop with Ladan Osman, Cave Canem (Fall 2020)
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The Political Act of Vulnerability Workshop with Luther Hughes, Hugo House (Fall 2020)
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Beast of No Poetics Intermediate Workshop with Marwa Helal, Cave Canem (Spring 2020)
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Scribe Lab with Rae Gouirand (Spring & Fall 2020)
SPEAK Kickoff Event
(December 2017, The Hidden Cellar, Seoul, Korea)
Sarah and Phil Kaye Opener
(March 2018, Bridges Auditorium, Claremont, CA)
