DAVID J AMADO
PUBLICATIONS & WRITING
My writing practice moves between poetry, theatrical text, and narrative storytelling, engaging themes of identity, trauma, race, and queer experience.
(DES)PROTEGIDOS
(DES)PROTEGIDOS (Eng.: (UN)PROTECTED) is an autofiction written in the form of a poem-play.
Throughout the book, five characters share the stage — each representing a “mask,” defense mechanisms that many Black queer men learn to wear to survive trauma.
The work touches on themes such as abuse and sexual harassment among men, addiction, internalized homophobia and transphobia, as well as the fear of intimacy and affection.
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“Let me tell you something about numbers.
They’re real good at hiding the truth, aren’t they?
They say 1 in 5 men is sexually abused before the age of 18.
1 in 5.
And most times, the one who was abused becomes the abuser.
But no one talks about it.
Because numbers create a pattern of silence.
A sense of anonymity. Almost invisible.
Now put 5 men in a room.
One of them is carrying that weight.
Or that guilt.
But who?”
YUSEF AND THE DANCE OF COLORS
A boy dreams of becoming a ballet dancer and goes to a ballet school. “The teacher greets the new student with a smile. And with skin-tone ballet shoes. Skin-tone? Whose skin?”
“Yusef e a Dança das Cores”(Eng.: Yusef and the Dance of the Colors) – Children's Story In: A Sr.ª Hi Ana, Alex, Yusef e um Rastro de Purpurinas. Editor: Trumps, 2024. ISBN: 978-989-35652-0-9.
