"A book must be an ax for the frozen sea within us." Franz Kafka, 1904 "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.  Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."  Groucho  Marx "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward."  Soren Kierkegard

Mel Belin, 59, a poet, attorney, student of French, lives in Arlington, Virginia, within walking distance of Georgetown, and, a short ride on the subway line to see his favorite baseball team, the Washington Nationals. Born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, he received a BA in Psychology from Dartmouth College in 1970, and a JD from George Washington University Law School in 1973.  He practiced law at the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of General Counsel from 1973 till the end of October 2000.

An earlier version of his collection of poetry, Flesh That Was Chrysalis, published by the Word Works, Inc., was a semi-finalist in the University of Wisconsin press' annual book competition. The poem, The Rogue Swans That Like Classical Music, won Potomac Review's third annual poetry competition and  Cosmic Law in a prior year was a a runner-up. Because He Didn't Ask for Directions was a runner-up in an Antietam Review annual competition.

He has been a feature reader at many significant venues, including the Library of Congress Noon Series, the Writer's Center, Miller's Cabin, Cafe Muse, Iota, Rock Creek Gallery, various synagogues, churches, Barnes & Noble and Borders stores, etc. His work has appeared nationally in magazines and journals, e.g., Confrontation, Midstream, Antietam Review, Connecticut River Review, Cumberland Review, Blue Unicorn, The Cape Rock, Phoebe, Poet Lore, Potomac Review, as well as in anthologies, such as only the sea keeps (Poetry of the Tsunami) (published by a leading publishing house in India and another in Canada), Gival Press' Poetic Voices Without Borders, the Washington Writers Publishing House's Hungry as we are, Word Work's Cabin Fever, and several anthologies by King's Estate Press.