 Donna Garrett
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Donna Garrett is the critically acclaimed poet, playwright, actor, storyteller and writer. Donna was born and educated in Alabama, "the heart of the south".
Ms. Garrett conducted a writing workshop at Taipei American school in 2006. The month long workshop culminated in a spoken word presentation receiving rave reviews.
She performed her original work and one-woman play entitled I CAN FLOAT, A JOURNEY OF TRANSFORMATION at Theater New West in Houston, Texas Dec. of 2000. The play received rave reviews and will be touring in the near future. Donna has performed at many venues around Texas including the Equality Begins at Home Rally, staged at the state capital in Austin, Texas. She has written and performed poetry and performance pieces with Women’s Work, Field Work, and Twelve Min Max at Diverse Works. She played the Prince in Romeo and Juliet staged at the Encore Theater directed by Mr. Harold Haynes.
Currently Donna is performing her poetry in Taipei, Taiwan.
Ms. Garrett’s storytelling abilities are appreciated by young and old. She is a dreamer and performer who will entice you with her intriguing tales and her warm trance inducing throaty vocal delivery.
She is a Texas favorite!
Audio (MP3)(WMA)
OUR DIFFERENCES
I don't want to examine our differences
I want to embrace them
You came from there, I came from here
You were raised that way,
I was raised this way
So what?
We were both born and we will both die
We share the basic needs of survival
And we both need love
The sun shines on our heads
And the rain blesses the earth
Providing the food we both need
You have learned from your culture and can teach me
We can exchange what we both know to be true
What life has shown us
Don't be afraid to know me
My differences don't overpower the things we share in Common
My skin is just that - my skin
You will have to get pass it
To see the light within
copyright Donna Garrett
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Audio (MP3)(WMA)
Pretty Diverse
Too tall,
Too dark,
Too feminine.
Too butch -
Check the accent; they are not from here.
She wears men clothes,
Has a ring in her nose.
They wear makeup.
They don’t like them because they do.
They are bisexual.
They are straight.
There are those that live to hate.
He is gay.
She is a lesbian.
They are Asian.
They are Mexican.
They are Indian.
She is a woman.
He is a man.
She is a man.
He is a woman.
Check the accent; they are not from here.
Nappy head,
Beautiful dreds,
Curly headed or not,
Muscular frame or no muscles to claim,
Identity unknown,
Lost without a home,
Pierced ear,
Pierced eyebrow,
Pierced where you cannot see.
Tattooed and spiked,
Unliked and liked,
Dressed in black,
Believers / nonbelievers,
Forgivers and nonforgivers,
The child bearers and child nurturers
And the childless,
The three-spirited soul,
Lovers, lovers,
The unloved,
The loved,
The deformed,
The handicapped,
The brilliant,
The not-so-brilliant.
Too much color?
Check out the accent; they are not from here.
What’s too much for you
Is not enough for me.
Can we celebrate the joys and beauty of diversity?
Can we appreciate the difference?
Because it wouldn’t be so pretty with it gone.
Believe me, it wouldn’t be so pretty with it gone.
copyright Donna Garrett
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Audio (MP3)(WMA)
THE STING OF DEATH
It has occurred to me that I know nothing of death.
I have not felt the sting.
I lost my mom,
I lost my dad,
But they lay down and completed the process of life.
I know nothing of the sting of the snatch,
The taking,
The unseemliness of war or murder,
The taking away of life
In a violent manner,
The spilling of guts,
The splaying of life,
The disarray of body parts,
The fear of intrusion.
I know nothing
My ancestors do,
My neighbors do,
Is it because I dwell under the wings of the murderers?
The big killer brother,
The master predators,
Is it because I do not make a sound?
I do not rock the boat.
Why have I not felt the sting,
Smelled the stench?
Am I blessed to be caressed
In such a sterile surrounding,
Or am I fooling myself
Into not preparing
For what is sure to come,
The thing I am sure to feel
In my life span,
The sting of death.
copyright Donna Garrett
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Audio (MP3)(WMA)
BURN A LITTLE RUBBER
I felt my father’s fear
When the state troopers lights flashed on.
I could see his stomach churn on his face,
And his peace would be gone.
THOSE WHITE STATE TROOPERS,
THOSE SNOW WHITE STATE TROOPERS,
Would take his spirit to a place.
I could see it on his face,
A kind of unspoken disgrace,
But I always thought he handled himself well.
Then came the instructions:
Be quiet, say nothing, answer no questions.
I could tell Mom had been through this inspection.
On her face I could read,
"Silence please.
Remember, seen but not heard."
Pop is looking military now.
"Yes sir" and "no sir" was all he would allow.
The trooper asked him out of the car anyhow.
There is no right answer.
The door opened and Dad got out.
"Hands on the hood
Spread your legs,"
I could hear the officer shout.
MY DAD ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE TOUCHED.
HE ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE TOUCHED.
The other officer shined the light
In my Mother's face; it was so bright.
Nothing about these encounters ever felt right,
And I was a young child.
Not a ticket,
Not a reprimand,
Never a reason why.
Dismissed, Pop would get back into the car very slowly,
Knowing he could die.
Pop drove a DeSoto
With those great big fins.
New, red and white and shiny,
Like Negroes weren’t supposed to be drivin’.
You could tell when the pressure would ease up
And we could breathe again.
POP WOULD BURN A LITTLE RUBBER,
AND I WOULD SEE HIM GRIN.
YEP, POP WOULD BURN A LITTLE RUBBER,
AND I WOULD SEE HIM GRIN.
copyright Donna Garrett |
Audio (MP3)(WMA)
I CAN FLOAT
I can't swim,
But I can float.
I can be still.
I can feel
The water closing in,
Lining up at my nostrils,
Preparing to extinguish
My existence
As water can,
But I'm still,
I'm trusting,
I'm sure,
And I float.
In my life
I live and I float.
I can rest easy.
I can sleep.
I can relax and allow
The invisible
To sustain me.
In my life I float.
It was hard -
Hard not to struggle,
Hard not to interfere
With the invisible process
Of my life.
I was trained from birth
To struggle,
To resist,
To go under,
To sweat,
To cry,
To try and try,
To fear,
To never adhere,
Trained not to understand
That there is
A predestined plan,
That I will live,
I will be fine,
And I don't
Have to fight.
I am saved.
I will exist.
I can relax
And thank God
I can float.
copyright Donna Garrett
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Audio (MP3)(WMA)
PREJUDICE
No one wants to be molded from an opinion.
No one wants to be recognized as the same.
Everyone appreciates his or her difference.
Everyone is as different as his or her name.
I am like no one.
I am unique and humane,
Take the time to know me
And you might just think the same.
Don’t heap me down with negative attitudes
Based on suppositions and innuendos,
Flailing me with your commitment to ignorance
Though evidence proves you wrong.
When you hang on to your negative opinions,
Perpetuate lies and rely on stereotypes,
When you stand firmly in racism and prejudice,
You alienate us from the possibility of seeing peace in our time.
No one wants to be molded from an opinion.
No one wants to be recognized as the same.
Everyone appreciates his or her difference.
Everyone is as different as his or her name.
copyright Donna Garrett
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