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LARA CARVALHO
realizadora audiovisual
I hate the expression knight-in-shining armor.
dragon of the sea
You're no knight and I'm no damsel.
I'm in distress and I can handle it.
And you wear your armor alright, but it sure isn't to slay any dragon – their heads sit on my lap and they purr and respond to their names and don't even dare touching them.
That's when you bring it up to your eyes – a round metal shield, dirty and beaten up. And all I can see in the reflection are my eyes staring back at me.
And I'm sea, I'm river, I'm swamp, I'm storm.
I relish in the changes, I demand to feel and be felt.
You act like Manannan in bone and flesh, but you dare venture in the water and you don't want to get wet?
Where I'm the waves, you're the rock.
You stand still and tall and you let me dive
and dive
and dive
until I almost drown.
Then you rise from the quicksand you made your fears out of
and you pick me up and throw me over your shoulder.
We reach the land and I choke in your arms as the water leaves my lungs
and I look up... and I can see it washing over you.
I FEEL LIKE
MEDUSA
WHEN YOU LOOK AT ME
LIKE THAT.
YOU REVERT
BACK INTO STONE
AND I'M LEFT
AGAIN AT SEA
LIKE A SIREN
LOOKING FORWARD
TO WRECK HAVOC
UPON A SHIP.
I can't promise you calm seas
or safe docks,
nor the warmth of the sun.
I won't apologize
for how the lightening strikes
during a storm.
I BRIM
AND I BURN
LIKE THE INSIDE
OF THE EARTH.
I'm not a damsel,
I'm the dragon itself.
I FIND HOME
IN DARK WATERS
AND I COME OUT
BREATHING A FIRE
SO FIERCE,
IT TURNS YOUR ARMOR
INTO ASHES.
dragon of the sea
overflown writing by Lara Carvalho
in Salvador, Bahia, 2016.
illustrated for web by Lara Carvalho,
in Salvador, Bahia, 2020.
CREDITS: [list other credits here]
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