El Nuevo Día fashioned galaxies of before and after photos poised for us to study. Once I sat in a garden with grassfanned across my chest. I trapped dirt between my toes and squeezed unaware of a time where wind would crush spaces standing green.Blackouts struck zip code after zip code like a willing animal. To handwash clothes in Ace and Suavitel. To sprinkle Fabuloso across the terraza. Fruity florals to block la planta’s foul invasion.Antes/después conversaciones: antes/después edificios antes/después tiendas antes/después escuelas antes/después personas antes/después montañas antes/después ríos antes/después yerba Beneath a cielo where we the watchers learn how to become fluent in prayer all by ourselves.
Antes/Después Huracán María
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“Antes/Después Huracán María” from IN INHERITANCE OF DROWNING: by Dorsía Smith Silva.
Published by CavanKerry Press on November 12th, 2024 .
Copyright © 2024 by Dorsía Smith Silva.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Dorsía Smith Silva is the author of In Inheritance of Drowning (CavanKerry, 2024), which was a category finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award, Eric Hoffer Award, Whirling Prize, and Da Vinci Eye Award, reviewed by Publishers Weekly, and recommended by Ms. Magazine. She is a Poetry Editor at The Hopper and Full Professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Literary Hub, Poets.org, and The Los Angeles Review have published her work, and she has received fellowships and scholarships from Bread Loaf and the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. Moreover, she is the author of Good Girl, editor of Latina/Chicana Mothering, and the co-editor of seven books. Looking to increase the visibility of poetry by BIPOC authors, she is the creator of the Smith Silva Challenge, which is a reading challenge that highlights poetry books by BIPOC authors. Dorsía Smith Silva has a Ph.D. in Caribbean Literature and Language. She is on social media @DSmithSilva.
A memorable debut collection that explores colonial and generational trauma.
In this striking debut, Dorsía Smith Silva explores the devastating effects of Hurricane María in Puerto Rico, highlighting the natural world, the lasting impact of hurricanes, and the marginalization of Puerto Ricans. These poems also focus on the multiple sites of oppression in the United States, especially the racial, social, and political injustices that occur every day. Smith Silva writes with a powerful, gripping voice, confronting the “drowning” of disenfranchised communities as they are displaced, exploited, and robbed of their identities, but remain resilient. Written with unflinching language and vivid imagery, In Inheritance of Drowning reveals the many facets of the lives of marginalized people.
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