poetry

SPRING 2021

Cyclone #9

by DORSÍA SMITH SILVA

comes on the back / end debris
of 2 am with the creeping rub
wind & a hard / pressed memory
of Hurricane María / enflamed
on a night of empty stars / you
make the rounds to curve the best
part of this story / no lights / no
water / just javelins of wind &
rain / an hourglass of wondering
what will go / windows / doors /
roof / i’m trying to think of the
punchline / something about
hurricanes / nephrologists / &
double whiskey sours / but i think
i’m a prisoner of the what to remember
& what to forget hypothesis / i’m
eyeing an exit / as if to say this
storm will not teach me how to wait

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Dorsía Smith Silva

Dorsía Smith Silva is a Pushcart Prize nominee, Obsidian Fellow, and Professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Her poetry has been published or is forthcoming in Poetry Northwest, Superstition Review, Porter House Review, Portland Review, Pidgeonholes, SAND, and elsewhere. She is also the author of Good Girl (micro-chapbook), editor of Latina/Chicana Mothering, and the co-editor of six books. She has a PhD in Caribbean literature and language. Her website is dorsiasmithsilva.com.