Dariana Alvarez

Oyster River Pages: We often think of ourselves as writing or making art, but the process often changes or makes us as well. How do you feel like your writing or art makes you?

Dariana Alvarez: I feel like writing (specifically poetry) truly makes up the core of who I am. I wouldn’t be who I am today if I hadn’t started writing poetry. Poetry is just something that has seen a lot of my brokenness and permitted me to not conceal my own cracks, it has made me by allowing me to be vulnerable.

ORP: What do you hope readers or viewers of your piece take from it?

DA: I hope that they realize beauty in their own flaws and don’t conform to what society believes they should look like. That is really what my poem is about - my own journey into accepting myself and finding myself uniquely beautiful despite criticisms I had received about being a heavier, hairer woman.

ORP: Do you believe that hope is a luxury, a responsibility, a danger, or something else? Why?

DA: Hope - for me - is a responsibility. I am Christian, so my hope feels like something I am responsible for telling others about and for holding on to. It is something that can feel hard and too much at times, but that is the thing about hope - you are holding on to something that you haven’t seen yet. I feel like this applies to any hope as well, hope can be a heavy thing.

ORP: If you could choose one writer or artist, living or dead, as a best friend or mentor, who would it be? Why?

DA: The spoken word artist, Sabrina Benaim, would honestly be wonderful to have as a friend or mentor. I feel such a deep connection with her from her poems about her experience with depression and anxiety. I write about these topics myself because I struggle with these things on the daily, and it would be amazing to have a mentor who can relate with that.

ORP: What do you think is the most essential advice that most writers and artists ignore?

DA: For me, I feel like most writers and artists ignore the advice to take risks. I feel like some artists lack vulnerability and it’s disappointing how some of them prefer being favored over being uncomfortable. The way to grow as an artist is to push yourself and be uncomfortable. I write about a lot of personal things, but I don’t regret it even though I’ve had people (even other writers) criticize me for doing so. I have grown as a poet and person because of it, and I own what happened to me.

Dariana Alvarez was born on October 1, 2001 in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. She currently lives in Florida where she spends most of her time writing poetry. Her work has appeared in the Elan Student Literary Magazine and Bridge Eight. She also has a self-published collection of poems titled: "The Bird Knew God." Find out more about her at https://darianaalvarezpoet.com/. Instagram: @dariana.marii. Listen to her read her poem, “Planting Seeds” here.