“Istanbul Airport”

What are your thoughts when you hear announcements over the PA system in the airports? Do you think of the many places you’ve lived in? Or maybe visited? Or the language your family speaks and the place they call “home?” Maybe you can relate to this poem by Melanie Hyo-In Han.

"Istanbul Airport"
by Melanie Hyo-In Han

and suddenly it hits me that we are traveling back “home” when i start hearing PA
announcements in Korean

       a flight attendant welcomes me onboard with a bow and an 안녕하세요

                    this ceremonial passage               boarding the aircraft


                    conversations about the price of kimchi
                    the rise and fall of samsung stocks
                    the latest results of her suneung exam
                   
            a silent observer of conversations

i stare out the window

                        this transitory space between      departure      arrival

         between       one home                      another

                             we land               i navigate the maze of customs

finding myself in the line for “Korean Nationals”                 Korean faces

        Korean phrases

                                then he stamps my passport

                                                           and i walk out

Born in Korea and raised in East Africa, Melanie Hyo-In Han recently moved from the U.S. to the U.K. She is the author of Abecedarian: Banff, Canada (kith books), My Dear Yeast (Milk & Cake Press) and Sandpaper Tongue, Parchment Lips (Finishing Line Press).

You can read more from Melanie at her website or find her on Instagram.