She is an Afro-feminist and Afro-Caribbean poet and visual artist who identified her black Puerto Ricanness as a defining characteristic of her work and personal identity.
According to her biography on the Fundación Nacional para la Cultura Popular of Puerto Rico, in 1963, noted poet Jorge Luis Morales presented Dávila to the Ateneo Puertorriqueño, where she performed her first recital.
[1] In 1966 she and husband José María Lima collaborated on their poemario (a collection of poems), Homenaje al ombligo (Homage to the navel), a work of poetry and drawings centering on intimacy and sensuality.
In la querencia, for example, a preface poem following after the title page posits love in relation to Spanish prepositions that locate and position love: a afuera adentro arriba abajo adelante atrás antes bajo cabe con contra cuando de desde después durante en entre excepto hacia hasta mediante mientras para por pues salvo según sin so sobre tras el amor.
crecientes van por la vera del aire, que las detiene, arrastradas se sostienen prometen, hurgan, rebuscan siempre encuentran, siempre gustan de mi sed, que las mantiene[4] Dávila states that his hands "sustain", "promise", "always find", and "always enjoy" her thirst, evincing the intimate and sensual language emblematic of her poetry.