In Inheritance of Drowning

Dorsía Smith Silva is a Pushcart Prize nominee, Best of the Net finalist, Best New Poets nominee, Obsidian Fellow, poetry editor of The Hopper, and professor at the University of Puerto Rico. Her poetry has been published in the Denver Quarterly, Waxwing, Cream City Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of Good Girl, editor of Latina/Chicana Mothering, and the coeditor of seven books.

"In Inheritance of Drowning, Dorsía Smith Silva’s powerful debut collection, trains a lens on the history and ecology of Puerto Rico and mainland US. In poems of ethical witness, Smith Silva documents the linkages between slavery and present-day police brutality and racism, between recent, devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean and colonialism, past and present. Wideseeing and searing, In Inheritance of Drowning looks unflinchingly at violence and iniquity while testifying to Black and Caribbean people’s survival."

• BY HURRICANEWhat the Poet is Supposed to Write about a HurricaneFirst Poem Before HurricanesThe Awakening of Hurricane MaríaLitanyIn Search of Space (After Hurricane María)The BeeDriving in Puerto Rico (After Hurricane María)My Grandmother’s PhotoAntés/Después Huracán MaríaThe Q and A SectionWhen you tap the muscle memory of the blue tarpCyclone #9PromisesHurricaneBY EVERYTHING ELSEDrowning in 5 PartsIn Inheritance of DrowningA Response to What Happens before We DrownArchive of GreenLa PeluqueríaStreet MeditationGhost Talker PoemDark MatterEveryday DrowningFor the black woman that has laundry lists of tearsMad Love for PhillyDecussateShame in the Shade of BlueThey came for usColumbus 2020PROMESAMemories of Cane[1st] Upon ArrivalWhile BlackLiving in Puerto Rico is as Close as I Can Get to Livingin the United StatesCleanlinessSpentDoctors on Television Recommend Booster Shots becausethe Pandemic is Far from Being OverTokenHow I Lost My NameBecoming AmericanReturnWhere Loss Begins at the BorderBY HURRICANE REVISITEDREM: A Case StudyPoem Written Upon Returning to My Home after a HurricaneHurricane María Countdown