On My Way to Liberation by H. Melt

On My Way to Liberation Reviews

• 
  Michael

  A brief chapbook of political poems, On My Way to Liberation explores what it means to navigate cis spaces as a trans person. Focusing on the pleasures and struggles of their daily life, H. Melt writes fast-paced short poems full of simple, clear images; their brisk, conversational lines are reminiscent of Eileen Myles’, and they lend a strong voice to trans rage and hope. The project’s interesting, though the understated poems themselves feel a bit slight in print and seem like they’d come alive when performed.
• 
  Leah Rachel von Essen

  I’ve heard H. Melt read before and am continually and always impressed. Their poetry in On My Way to Liberation brings the quiet anger that trans people must face everyday, the self-affirmation, the frustration at erasure. Through their poetry, Melt explores a cis world that has so many nonconforming bodies hidden within it, being misgendered, struggling to fit. “Trans People Don’t Want to be Your Friend” begins “25% of americans / don’t want to be friends / with a trans person / 100% of trans people / don’t want to be / your friend” and ends “all I want is a love / that doesn’t end / in a headline.”
• 
  Kazen

  Haymarket Books recently had 90% off sale on all their ebooks, so you can bet I was all over it! This is one of the four nonfiction books I picked up and, by virtue of being a chapbook, the shortest at 28 pages.
  
  Melt, who is trans and genderqueer, writes directly about their experience. We sit with them as they are misgendered, deadnamed, and forced to deal with injustice every day.
  
  

  But they won't stop murdering.
  Stop legislating. Stop imprisoning.
  Stop claiming we are ruining our
  countries, families, friendships
  and futures too.
  
  When every day
  we awaken to
  build them
  anew.

  
  I'm grateful that Melt put their lived reality down on the page for others to experience - the emotion comes through loud and clear. However I'm not the biggest fan of the poetry itself. The work's missing oomph for me, that punch that makes you want to sit with a poem after you finish it, or go back and reread it immediately. Some of the images will rattle in my brain for a while yet but the words themselves will unfortunately fade more quickly.
• 
  Emma

  On My Way to Liberation was a moving mixture of poems that were slices of H. Melt's life and rallying cries for trans liberation. Their prose was incredibly emotional in a quiet, almost subtle way. I really enjoyed this chapbook and look forward to reading more of Melt's work.
• 
  John

  Great little chapbook. Totally recommend it for anyone who is looking for a booster shot of trans poetry.
• 
  Nora

  I'd tell you which line in which poem made me instantly cry, but I think you should find it for yourself. Buy this book, and then pass it along (physically or by title) to someone else you realize also needs to read it.
• 
  Jim

  Received this as a gift from one of my daughters, and am glad she introduced me to H. Melt.
  
  This is a short book, but there are at least three poems I would recommend to anyone: A Pair of Shoes, City of TRans Liberation and the concluding title poem On My Way to Liberation.
• 
  Riley

  so short, but such a gut punch
• 
  Masha

  Short and beautiful. On trans liberation loving in a cis world. American poetry is growing on me. Even though slowly
• 
  Cooper Lee Bombardier

  A love letter to all trans people.
• 
  Rich Farrell

  I’m late to the party with Haymarket's Breakbeat Poets series, but I made it.
  
  After reading Olivarez’s Citizen Illegal, I looked at what other books were in the series, and I found this chapbook by H. Melt. I had the pleasure of taking some of my middle school students a couple of years ago to the Poetry Foundation for writing workshops led by them, and I was excited to see their own work. It was really moving thinking about identity in general and trans identity specifically.
  
  It's really something I can't imagine, so poems like "A Pair of Shoes" about a stranger and "Happy Holidays" about family felt like a gut punch emotionally even without a true personal frame of reference. (Not having a frame of reference is okay. I don't think that this book isn't for me, nor is it for me. It exists, and that's good.) I thought "On My Way to Liberation" really tied the collection together with this unexpected connection to their family's past and how identity is sometimes shifted for survival and how sometimes bucking what has been considered "normal" in search of truth is a new sense of survival and liberation. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more from H. Melt in the future.
• 
  lee

  i loved this chapbook, short, beautiful, and to the point. trans liberation is celebrating and loving trans people as they are while we are still here to be celebrated and loved! this book highlights that through h. melt’s lens. it is often up to trans people to make spaces for themselves in this world but i think h. melt and i share the same hope that one day cis people will share the workload with us on the way to trans liberation.
• 
  Suzy

  Favorite poems: Happy Holidays, On My Way to Liberation
  in the intro, they say that in this collection, they “transition from talking about cis people and how they’ve harmed [them], to directly addressing trans people and envisioning trans liberation.” for me, this doesn’t fully come across in the chapbook, but I am intrigued about their forthcoming full collection “There Are Trans People Here”
• 
  Mahi - ماهی

  “ I was honored with a free copy in exchange for an honest review. “
  “My lawyer says illegal my therapist says trauma I say help and I say thank to all those listening answering my calls. “
  I recommend this collection to everyone who struggles to belong somewhere!
  
• 
  Monika

  This is a short chapbook with some truly powerful poetry. "City of Trans Liberation" made me cry. Wow. I love the order in which these poems appear in the collection, because the last two wrapped everything up so well. I want to read everything H. Melt has written.
• 
  Tucker

  Poems of displacement and self-affirmation. Written with an audience of other transgender folk in mind.
• 
  Nicole

  This was over so quickly I just wanted to read more! But will be looking out for more from this poet.
• 
  Keeloween

  liberating
• 
  Pau

  I cried.
• 
  Bex

  Deeply powerful.
• 
  anastasia

  maybe it could have been a 5 star but i still don’t get poetry
• 
  Kirsten

  Melt is one to watch. These poems are powerful in their voice, and the rhythms are excellent.
• 
  Kandace

  Clear poems with a clear voice of call to witness, call to make space, call to accept the presence of trans folx among us. Can't wait for the fuller book collection!
• 
  David

  Yeah, that last stanza is really what made me cry.
• 
  Mal Martin

  Honestly most of these poems were in the other book I read a few days ago called “there are trans people here” and it was still just as good!!! The few poems that I hadn’t read were phenomenal!
• 
  Indigo Ryder

  When your friends explore gender give them this to show them hope & history & heaven ~ I had to reread to rerealize I am! both trans & alive despite what They’d want! we’re going to try & be okay yall, alright? alright~