Associate editor Moriah Katz and author Dorsía Smith Silva discuss motherhood, healing within the family unit, and the creative process behind the author’s debut poetry collection, In Inheritance of Drowning. Smith Silva’s poem, “I Asked About Desire” is featured in volume 73.1
MORIAH: Tell us a bit about you. Who are you and what drives your work?
DORSÍA: Okay, well, let’s see. I am a professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico. I have been teaching there for over 17 years, and I’ve been an educator in general for over 20 years. I’m also a mom, and a big fan of Prince! Some people don’t know that. But if I can sneak in a reference to Prince in a poem, then I am thrilled.
MORIAH: What drives you?
DORSÍA: My drive definitely comes from my belief that I have something to say. Who else is going to say what I want to say but me? Why have other people tell what I know is my story?
MORIAH: What is The Hopper and what does its mission mean to you?
DORSÍA: Thank you so much for asking. I’m so happy to be one of the poetry editors at The Hopper. We are an environmental literary magazine. It’s a special place to give recognition to the natural world and landscapes. It has been very meaningful to work with a journal that focuses on many significant issues.
MORIAH: You’ve edited several books that center on motherhood. How does this theme show up in your own writing?
DORSÍA: I write about the maternal experience a lot. Not just my particular experience, but the complexity of motherhood. I think when we look at the dyad of mothering – especially when we think of the mother-child bond – there’s such a range of experiences that I really like to explore. Some of my poems deal with the difficulties of conceiving, and others examine the traumatic experience of having a miscarriage. I also write about the mother-child relationship and how it changes over time…to nourish children so that they are empowered and still connected somehow to their mother.
MORIAH: What is the occasion of “I Asked About Desire”?
DORSÍA: I really wanted the poem to explore the layers of the familial conflict, and to think about how each family member plays a part of that conflict. It explores the difficulties of healing within the family. “How can we heal? Is there a possibility for healing?” What would reconciliation look like in this family? The poem is asking the reader to explore those questions.
MORIAH: You use extremely specific zoological and biological language throughout the poem. What drew you to it?
DORSÍA: My child was completing a unit in biology, and I was helping him prepare for his exam. As I was helping him I thought, “This material is fascinating!” In the beginning, we were talking about cell theory. Then the unit shifted to zoology. I already knew I had wanted to write a poem about family tensions. So then I thought, “What if I wrote a poem that explored tensions in the family and ingrained that with biology?
MORIAH: What is the protagonist’s relationship to her family members?
DORSÍA: The protagonist has been placed in a very precarious situation. There is no one to support the protagonist, and the protagonist can’t rely upon any family members to come to the rescue. It is extremely frightening that there is no protection from this harmful parental figure that happens to be the protagonist’s father. What a lonely and sad place!
MORIAH: What is the protagonist’s relationship to the animals in the poem?
DORSÍA: It depends on how you read the animals and what they symbolize. Readers can probably glean that these animals are highly dangerous, and that they set up this relationship of predator/prey. The father is linked to predators, as he preys on the protagonist in the poem.
MORIAH: What is the role of shame in the poem?
DORSÍA: There is a moment in the poem when the protagonist internalizes shame and tries to process it. Unfortunately, what can happen to some children when they’re trying to process dysfunctional behavior in their family is that they try to rationalize this behavior. Eventually, the protagonist realizes that this harmful behavior surrounds the household, and there is no way to justify this kind of behavior. This emptiness and grappling with an unhealthy familial dynamic leave a lot of shame.
MORIAH: How does death affect the world you build in “I Asked About Desire”?
DORSÍA: There’s the threat of physical and emotional danger throughout the poem. We as readers [eventually] land into something more concrete with the carcass at the very last line of the poem. Something has died. I’m going to leave it up to the reader to interpret the demise.
MORIAH: Congratulations on publishing your debut poetry book, In Inheritance of Drowning! What was your process for completing it?
DORSÍA: Thank you so much! After experiencing Hurricane María, I had to emotionally come to terms with what was happening in Puerto Rico. There was no electricity and water. The roads were blocked by fallen trees, and many stores were empty. It was also stressful not having access to any news–we didn’t know if family members were safe and what was happening in other parts of the island. I started keeping a journal, which I eventually transformed into poems.At this point I had what I called the María poems, and I arranged them into a manuscript. Then I saw what was happening in the United States […] so many high profile police brutality cases. So I said, “I can’t have a manuscript without giving voice to the exploitation, discrimination and marginalization of BIPOC people in the United States, especially African Americans.” I had to figure out a way to have a manuscript where both parts were there.
MORIAH: How have your Black heritage and life in Puerto Rico shaped your poetry?
DORSÍA: Both have shaped the manuscript for In Inheritance of Drowning. The first section of the book focuses on my experiences living in Puerto Rico before, during and after Hurricane María. The next portion of the book has to do with the historical exploitation and discrimination of Black and Caribbean people. I also explore the theme of migration in this section, as I reflect upon those that have been forced to flee their homelands. The last part [of the book] explores the colonial tension between the United States and Puerto Rico, and the threat of hurricanes causing more damage to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean in general. There is a call for social transformation, which I hope will resonate with readers.